Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2014, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (10): 1653-1660.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(14)60132-7

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Catalytic oxidation of glycerol to tartronic acid over Au/HY catalyst under mild conditions

Jiaying Caia,b, Hong Maa, Junjie Zhanga,b, Zhongtian Dua, Yizheng Huanga, Jin Gaoa, Jie Xua   

  1. a Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China;
    b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2014-03-30 Revised:2014-04-28 Online:2014-09-28 Published:2014-09-30
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20803074, 21233008) and the "Strategic Priority Research Program-Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Related Issues" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA050102).

Abstract:

Gold nanoclusters or nanoparticles on various supports (CeO2, activated carbon, HY, REY, and NaY) were investigated for glycerol oxidation in the aqueous phase under mild conditions. Compared with other catalysts, Au/HY showed remarkable catalytic performance in forming dicarboxylic acid (tartronic acid) over the monocarboxylic acid (glyceric acid) or the C-C cleavage product (oxalic acid). Au/HY achieved 98% conversion of glycerol and 80% yield of tartronic acid at 60 ℃ under 0.3 MPa O2. Further characterization showed that the small size of Au clusters is the key factor for the high oxidation performance. In situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that glycerol was first transformed to glyceric acid, and then glyceric acid was directly oxidized to tartronic acid.

Key words: Catalytic oxidation, Glycerol, Gold, Tartronic acid