Metal Phosphates: Preparation, Characterization and Catalytic Evolution for Vapour Phase Dehydration of Glycerol to Acrolein

Metal phosphate (MP; M = Al, Ti, Zr and Nb) catalysts have been examined for the continuous dehydration of glycerol to acrolein and hydroxyacetone. These catalysts are prepared by hydrothermal procedure and the physico-chemical characteristics were probe by XRD, N 2 sorption, FT-IR, UV-DRS, ex-situ Py-FT-IR and TPD-NH 3 to gain the insight effect of the samples structural and superficial acidity with changing the metal component. The glycerol dehydration activity will be interpreted with respected to the acidity and skeletal behavior of the MP catalysts. The outcomes indicated that the NbP was the best catalyst, achieving 100% glycerol conversion, followed by TiP, ZrP and AlP. However, due to its expanded porosity, TiP catalyst proved its long life activity during vapor phase glycerol dehydration.