Recent developments in dehydration of glycerol toward acrolein over heteropolyacids

Abstract

As biodiesel production from triglyceride transesterification increases, a surplus amount of by-product glycerol is produced. The glycerol production per year in Europe has tripled within the last 10 years to 800-900 kt per year. This motivates the development of new processes for the conversion of glycerol into valuable chemicals, e.g., the transformation into acrolein. It is an attractive intermediate for acrylates, methionine, glutaraldehyde, etc. In the recent years, some researchers studied the dehydration of glycerol to acrolein over acidic bulk and supported catalysts, in particular with heteropolyacids (HPAs) as active compounds. HPAs attracted the attention due to their high Brønsted acidity and well known structures, however, they have some disadvantages such as low surface area, low thermal stability, and rapid coking leading to deactivation. To overcome these drawbacks, HPAs are often supported on oxidic carriers showing high surface areas. In addition, redox active metals are incorporated into HPAs and oxygen-containing feed is used to suppress coke formation. This review presents a summary on recent research on HPA based catalysts in the gas phase dehydration of glycerol to acrolein.

Catalytic routes towards acrylic acid, adipic acid and ε-caprolactam starting from biorenewables

“…Several recent reviews on this topic have been published. 26,77,78 Various catalysts are known for converting acrolein to acrylic acid. Here, we focus on the popular Mo-V-O and Mo-V-M-O (M = W, Cu, Nb, Te) type materials.…”

Catalytic Glycerol Hydrodeoxygenation under Inert Atmosphere: Ethanol as a Hydrogen Donor

“…Glycerol is now largely available in the market mainly due to the rapid increase in bio-diesel production. For this reason, a great effort has been directed towards the conversion of glycerol to valuable products, such as 1,2-and 1,3-propanediols [4][5][6][7][8][9][10], acrolein [11,12], hydrogen [13] and fuel additives [14].…”

Acrolein

“…4 Moreover, acrolein can be used for the synthesis of acrylic acid and acrylates which are widely used in the textile and resin industry. 5 In addition, it is a potential marker of various diseases, such as chronic renal failure, stroke, and cancer. 6 Acrolein is commercially available and can be industrially prepared by the oxidation of propene as well as by dehydration of glycerol.…”