Passing the Frontiers of Liquid‐Phase Glycerol Partial Oxidation over Supported Bimetallic Catalysts

Abstract In this paper, the performance of monometallic and bimetallic (Au, Pt, Ag, Pd) catalysts supported on a basic alumina in the partial oxidation of glycerol in the liquid phase are compared. A clear synergetic effect between metals is observed, especially when Au and Pt, Au and Pd, as well as Ag and Pt are associated. These three catalysts, characterized by relatively small mean particle size (i.e., 4.44 ± 2.18 nm for AuPt, 6.42 ± 3.31 nm for AuPd, and 6.91 ± 3.97 nm for AgPt), enable complete glycerol (GLY) conversion after 4 h of reaction at room temperature, under atmospheric pressure (200 mL of a 0.3 m GLY solution, 0.5 g of catalyst, NaOH/GLY = 4 mol mol −1 , 1500 rpm, 650 mL O 2 min −1 ). Moreover, it is possible to achieve more than 80% GLY conversion after 4 h of reaction at room temperature under atmospheric pressure with air bubbling (650 mL air min −1 ) as an oxidation atmosphere. This unpreceded high performance in the glycerol partial oxidation reaction under such mild conditions pave the way to the possibility of industrial exploitation of this promising catalytic system.