Bio-propylene glycol as value-added product from Epicerol® process

M. Ricciardi, D. Cespi, M. Celentano, A. Genga, C. Malitesta, A. Proto, C. Capacchione, R. Cucciniello

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The production of chemicals from bio-based feedstocks is an emerging field of research in both industrial and academic communities. Here we present the synthesis of propylene glycol through catalytic hydrogenolysis of glycidol, obtained using a side-stream from the bio-based epichlorohydrin production plant, over Pd/C catalyst. In particular, we show the prominent effect of the acidic resin Amberlyst-15 in the selective and quantitative conversion of glycidol that permits to reach a TOF value of 162 h−1. Propylene glycol is obtained with high yields and selectivity (> 99%) in only 1 h under mild reaction conditions. The effect of solvent is also investigated giving interesting results on the reaction selectivity. The catalytic system (Pd/C + Amberlyst-15) shows a good recyclability also after seven reaction cycles reaching high performances in term of conversion and selectivity. This allowed minimizing the amount of waste and enhancing the efficiency of the whole system.
Original languageEnglish
JournalSustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy
Early online date28 Jun 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2017

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