A novel low-temperature and low-pressure process for hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol

The hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol was studied in a fixed-bed two-step reactor system.The effects of the catalysts,Cu/SiO2,Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 and Cu/MnO/Al2O3,and the process parameters,reaction temperature,pressure,hydrogen space velocity and glycerol concentration,were investigated.This research resulted in the development of a novel low-temperature and low-pressure fixed-bed two-step process for hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol,which used Cu/SiO2 as catalyst and had high glycerol conversion and 1,2-propanediol selectivity.