Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2014, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (7): 1148-1156.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(14)60057-7

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Gas phase dehydration of glycerol to acrolein catalyzed by zirconium phosphate

Huimei Gan, Xiuge Zhao, Baoning Song, Li Guo, Ran Zhang, Chen Chen, Jizhong Chen, Wenwen Zhu, Zhenshan Hou   

  1. Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
  • Received:2013-12-20 Revised:2014-02-20 Online:2014-06-28 Published:2014-06-28
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1179302, 21373082, 21073058), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20100074110014), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

Abstract:

Zirconium phosphates were prepared by precipitation, hydrothermal synthesis, and impregnation methods and were characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, nitrogen adsorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Hammett indicators. The different preparation methods have crucial effects on the texture and surface acidity of the zirconium phosphates. The zirconium phosphates were employed as catalysts for the gas phase dehydration of glycerol under mild reaction conditions. The zirconium phosphates from the precipitation method afforded the highest activity with the complete conversion of glycerol, 81% selectivity to acrolein, and no obvious deactivation over 24 h. Surface acidic sites played an important role in the activity, selectivity to acrolein, and life of catalysts.

Key words: Glycerol, Dehydration, Acrolein, Zirconium phosphate, Acidity