4.Glycerol Reforming
Renewable energy generation and utilization techniques become essential due to scarcity of the fossil fuel. In this regard, biodiesel can be considered as a suitable alternative instead of petroleum fuels because of its non-flammable and non-toxic features. Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel synthesis with 10% of total yield. Thus, an enhancing biodiesel market has brought about dramatic increases in glycerol production. Moreover, glycerol is a multifunctional trihydroxy sugar alcohol that can be oxidized to form many valuable products, including dihydroxyacetone, glyceric acid, glyceraldehyde, hydroxypyruvic acid, and glycolic acid [1].
However, the overall biodiesel production profit is limited due to its vast amount and high viscosity property [2], [3] and the purification cost. Maximizing the sustainability of the biodiesel plant as well as considering the environmental protection, the process of converting glycerol into its compounds should be proposed like using a photocatalysis with abundant and inexpensive sun energy [4], [5], [6].
In our laboratory, glycerol reforming studies are carried out via photocatalytic ways. In this regard, H2 production is tried to improve by glycerol reforming process not only for an alternative energy production but also for removing obstacles of biodiesel production and separation valuable glycerol compounds. For catalyst’s characterization and results observation, researchers benefit from available photoreactor, GC, FTIR, UV-VIS, XRD and SEM analyses which are in our laboratory and university.
References
- Ozdemir, P.,“Comparative Study of Hydrogen Evolution Over Perovskites and Other Oxides”, M.S. Thesis, Dept. of Chemical Eng., Bogazici Univ., (2020).
General references
- [1] L. Guo, Q. Sun, K. Marcus, Y. Hao, J. Deng, K. Bi and Y. Yang, Photocatalytic glycerol oxidation on AuxCu–CuS@TiO2 plasmonic heterostructures, J. of Mat. Chem. A, Vol:6, pp: 22005–22012, (2018).
- [2] C.Y. Chiang, Y.S. Chen, M.S. Liang, F.Y. Lin, C.Y.D. Tai, H.S. Liu, Absorption of ethanol into water and glycerol/water solution in a rotating packed bed, J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng. Vol:40, pp: 418-423, (2009).
- [3] C.Y. Chiang, D.W. Lee, H.S. Liu, Carbon dioxide capture by sodium hydroxide-glycerol aqueous solution in a rotating packed bed, J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng. Vol:72, pp:29-36, (2017).
- [4] Z. Zhang, L. Xin, J. Qi, D.J. Chadderdon, K. Sun, K.M. Warsko, W. Li, Selective electro-oxidation of glycerol to tartronate or mesoxalate on Au nanoparticle catalyst via electrode potential tuning in anion-exchange membrane electrocatalytic flow reactor, Appl. Catal. B Environ. Vol:147, pp: 871-878, (2014).
- [5] C.H. Lam, A.J. Bloomfield, P.T. Anastas, A switchable route to valuable commodity chemicals from glycerol via electrocatalytic oxidation with an earth abundant metal oxidation catalyst, Green Chem. Vol:19, pp: 1958-1968, (2017).
- [6] L. W. Huang, T. G. Vo, C.Y. Chiang, Converting glycerol aqueous solution to hydrogen energy and dihydroxyacetone by the BiVO4 photoelectrochemical cell, Electrochimica Acta, Vol:322 – 134725, (2019).
