Promoting effect of WO, on selective hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,3-propanediol over bifunctional Pt-WOx/Al2O3 catalysts

Despite 1,3-propanediol possessing high economic value, its production from glycerol hydrogenolysis is a challenging task. Herein, a series of WOx promoted Pt/Al2O3 catalysts with various WOx contents were prepared and investigated for selective production 1,3-propanediol from glycerol hydrogenolysis. To explore the structure feature, these catalysts were fully characterized by BET, CO chemisorption, HRTEM, XRD (in situ XRD), Raman, NH3 TPD, Py IR, H-2 TPR, and XPS. Among them, Pt-10WO(x)/Al2O3 achieved the highest 1,3-propanediol yield up to 42.4%, which was ascribed to the large concentration of Bronsted acid sites, strong electronic interaction between Pt with WOx and hydrogen spillover. The strong correlation between 1,3-propanediol yield and Bronsted acid site indicated its essential role for the formation of 1,3-propanediol. Meanwhile the linear correlation between 12-propanediol yield and Lewis acid site gave direct evidence that Lewis acid site preferentially generated 1,2-propanediol. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.