Selective Glycerol Oxidation by Electrocatalytic Dehydrogenation

This study demonstrates that an electrochemical dehydrogenation process can be used to oxidize glycerol to glyceraldehyde and glyceric acid even without using stoichiometric chemical oxidants. A glyceric acid selectivity of 87.0% at 91.8% glycerol conversion was obtained in an electrocatalytic batch reactor. A continuous-flow electrocatalytic reactor had over an 80% high glyceric acid selectivity at 10% glycerol conversion, as well as greater reaction rates than either an electrocatalytic or a conventional catalytic batch reactor.