Liquid value-added chemicals production from aqueous phase reforming of sorbitol and glycerol over sonosynthesized Ni-based catalyst

Aqueous phase reforming (APR) of sugar alcohols to produce hydrogen and value-added chemicals derived from renewable carbohydrates are becoming more promising nowadays. In the present study, Mo-Ni/Al2O3 and MoNi/H-Y zeolite catalysts were synthesized using sonochemical approach employed for aqueous phase reforming of sorbitol and glycerol. The aqueous phase reforming reaction was conducted with 10 wt% of sorbitol/glycerol in deionized water in an autoclave batch reactor. Several characterization techniques (TGA, XRD, BET, H2TPR and FESEM-EDX) were performed for all the synthesized catalysts. It was perceived from the characterization that Ni/H-Y zeolite catalysts possess better textural properties in term of particle dispersion and surface area compared to Al2O3 supported catalysts. Moreover, H-Y zeolite supported catalysts also offered better performances in term of the production of value-added chemicals where the selectivity of products is more than 20% compared to the Al2O3 supported catalysts. Some of the highly selective value-added chemicals identified were acetone, ethylene glycol 1,3-propanediol and glycerol in which 1%Mo-Ni/H-Y zeolite contributed the highest activity where the conversion is at 28.5% and 24.3% selectivity towards 1,3-propanediol in the APR of sorbitol. The most selective product in this study, 1,3-propanediol, is an expensive chemical, commonly used in polymer industries, and used as adhesives, coatings and an intermediate solvent.