Hetergeneous Catalysis - Green Methanol Synthesis

甘油是由甘油三酯生产生物柴油时产生的废物资源;油脂的一种成分。政府对汽车燃料中生物源成分的需求不断增加，导致甘油过剩。纯甘油在食品和制药工业中有许多应用;然而，来自生物柴油的废甘油是粗混合物的大部分。该混合物可含有高达30%的水、盐、甲醇和部分转化的甘油三酯。目前，对这种粗甘油的需求很少，因此仍然是废物，并且通常作为处置方法燃烧以产生能量。我们已经开发了一种方法，该方法可以在具有碱性或氧化还原活性表面的金属氧化物催化剂上以相对高的产率生产甲醇。重要的是，这可能发生在简单过滤和轻微稀释的粗甘油溶液中。迄今为止获得的结果为商业示范铺平了道路，其中主要由甲醇组成的反应产物可以与石油混合。这样一个过程有可能大大改变目前的方法，以增加生物衍生的汽车fulfiles.The目前工作的目的是最大限度地将粗甘油转化为分子适合石油调和股票的能力。我们的主要目标是通过生产具有定制选择性表面的催化剂来减少醛和二氧化碳等不合适组分的产生。第二，需要使用粗甘油来证明该技术的经济性。催化剂必须耐受在与工业规模上存在的大体积相容的适当水平的纯化之后存在的残留杂质。因此，目标是生产有效的催化剂，其具有选择性和耐受性，而不会通过氧化杂质增加CO2的产量。

Glycerol is a waste resource generated in the production of biodiesel from triglycerides; a component of oils and fats. The increasing demand at the government level for a bio-sourced component to automotive fuels has driven the generation of a surplus of glycerol. Glycerol in a purified state has many applications in food and pharmaceutical industries; however, the waste glycerol from biodiesel is a majority portion of a crude mixture. This mixture can contain up to 30 percent water, salts, methanol and partially converted triglycerides. Presently, there is little demand for this crude glycerol and as a result remains waste and is often combusted as a disposal method to generate energy. We have developed a process which can produce methanol in relatively high yields over metal oxide catalysts which have either basic or redox active surfaces. Crucially, this can occur with crude glycerol solutions which have been simply filtered and slightly diluted. The results obtained thus far pave the way for commercial demonstration where the reaction products comprised principally of methanol can be blended with petroleum. Such a process has the potential to dramatically alter current approaches to increase the bio-derived competent of automotive fuels.The aims of the present work are to maximise the conversion of crude glycerol to molecules suitable for petroleum blend-stock. Principally, we aim to reduce the production of unsuitable components such as aldehydes and carbon dioxide through the production of catalysts with tailored, selective surfaces. Secondly, the use of crude glycerol is required to make an economic case for this technology. Catalysts must be tolerant to the residual impurities present following an appropriate level of purification compatible with large volumes present on an industrial scale. Therefore, the aim is produce effective catalysts, which are selective and tolerant without increasing the production of CO2 through oxidation of impurities.