Cu/ZnO-USY: an efficient bifunctional catalyst for the hydrogenolysis of glycerol

By combing ZnO with the silicon hydroxyl in USY, a series of Cu/ZnO-USY catalysts with both acid and base sites were prepared with the precipitation method and used in the hydrogenolysis of glycerol to propanediol. The Cu/USY and Cu/ZnO catalysts were also prepared with the same method and used as blanks. These catalysts were fully characterized with TEM, SEM, BET, XRD, NH3-TPD, CO2-TPD and H-2-TPR. The combination of ZnO with the surface silicon hydroxyl of USY generated new core-shell like structure and introduced base sites. This newly formed structure made the Cu particle (10 nm) highly dispersed on the catalyst and the acid-base co-operativity accelerated the glycerol dehydration and led to higher glycerol conversion and 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) selectivity with much short time (5 h). Catalyst deactivation was also investigated, mainly caused by the increase of the Cu particle size during the hydrogenolysis process.