Development of Catalyst for Hydrogenolysis of Glycerol to 1,3 - Propanediol

The main purpose of this project is to find the bestbi-metallic catalyst that gives high
conversion of glycerol together with high selectivity towards the production of 1,3-
propanediol. However, the catalyst that is selective in the yield of 1,3-propanediol is
still much to be developed, since most of the conventional glycerol hydrogenolysis
catalysts preferred in producing 1,2-propanediol and ethylene glycol. An abundant
amount of glycerol need to be further utilized, by converting this readily available
bio-renewable source into valuable chemicals. There are three main steps required in
conducting this project which are; i) development of supported bi - metallic catalysts
via incipient wetness impregnation method, ii) perform catalysts characterization by
using temperature program reduction (TPR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier
Transformed Infrared (FTIR) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy
(FESEM); and iii) perform catalytic testing and analysis where the hydrogenolysis
reaction of glycerol is conducted. The analysis is done by using gas chromatography
(GC). From the results obtained, Cu - Mn catalyst gives the highest glycerol
conversion in the hydrogenolysis reaction with 11.08 % . Meanwhile, for the
selectivity towards 1,3-propanediol, Cu - Ce catalyst shows the highest value with
9.70 %. Both conversion and selectivity results of Cu - Ag and Cu - Mn catalyst are
comparable, with only a slight difference, andthesetwo catalysts produce more 1,3 -
propanediol instead of 1,2 - propanediol. It is believed that, Cu - Ag and Cu - Mn
have a high potential to be developed as the catalysts for hydrogenolysis of glycerol
to 1,3-propanediol.