Catalysts Screening for Catalytic Conversion of Glycerol to Olefins

Abstract

Biodiesel is produced by trans esterification, in which the fats/oils react with methanol to form biodiesel methyl esters and glycerol, the latter being sold as byproduct. As biodiesel is rapidly produced, glycerol has become abundantly available and cheaper. The unique feature of glycerol and the cost advantage attracts researchers to seek for ways to utilized and transform glycerol to useful products. Among important chemicals that can be produced from glycerol is olefin. Olefin can be produced via catalytic reaction of glycerol with zeolite ZSM-5 based catalysts at high temperature. The zeolite catalysts were prepared by impregnation with several metals including chromium, calcium, copper, nickel and aluminium. From the experiment, CuZSM-5 has given the highest conversion and olefins yield with 17.72 and 3.55%, respectively.