Hetergeneous Catalysis - Green Methanol Synthesis

甘油是从甘油三酯生产生物柴油过程中产生的一种废物资源；甘油是油脂的一种成分。政府层面对汽车燃料的生物来源成分的需求不断增加，导致甘油产生过剩。提纯状态的甘油在食品和制药工业中有许多应用；然而，生物柴油产生的废甘油是粗混合物的主要部分。这种混合物可以含有高达30%的水、盐、甲醇和部分转化的甘油三酯。目前，这种粗甘油的需求量很小，因此仍然是废物，经常被燃烧作为一种产生能量的处置方法。我们开发了一种工艺，与具有碱性或氧化还原活性表面的金属氧化物催化剂相比，可以相对较高的产率生产甲醇。最重要的是，这种情况可能发生在粗甘油溶液中，这些溶液经过简单的过滤和轻微稀释。到目前为止所获得的结果为商业演示铺平了道路，其中主要由甲醇组成的反应产物可以与石油混合。这一过程有可能极大地改变目前提高汽车燃料生物衍生能力的方法。本工作的目标是最大限度地将粗甘油转化为适合石油混合原料的分子。大体上，我们的目标是通过生产具有定制的、选择性表面的催化剂来减少醛和二氧化碳等不合适成分的产生。其次，需要使用粗甘油来为这项技术提供经济理由。催化剂必须耐受残留杂质的存在，在适当的净化水平之后，与工业规模的大容量相适应。因此，我们的目标是生产高效的催化剂，既要有选择性，又要有耐受性，而不会因为氧化杂质而增加二氧化碳的生成量。

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.