Selective Hydrogen Production from Glycerol over Ruthenium Catalyst

Abstract Glycerol – one of the prominent by‐products of biodiesel is also an important source of hydrogen gas. Herein, the efficient and selective production of hydrogen gas from glycerol in water at 90–120 °C over a ruthenium nanoparticle (∼2.7 nm) catalyst is demonstrated. Notably, high yield of hydrogen gas ( n (H 2 )/ n (glycerol); 0.96–1.61) was achieved from the glycerol‐water solution, where the reaction temperature and base concentration played crucial role in achieving high yield of H 2 . Advantageously, under the studied reaction conditions, the ruthenium catalyst also exhibited appreciably high long‐term stability for over 36 h while generating ca. 70 L H 2 per gram of Ru with H 2 yield of 350 L per L of glycerol. Moreover, high yield for lactic acid is also achieved during the production of hydrogen gas from glycerol.