Activity of nanocasted oxides for gas-phase dehydration of glycerol

A series of nanocasted oxides were synthesised, and an analysis using basicity measurements provided evidence that low strength basic sites with high accessibility favoured the production of 1-hydroxyacetone from glycerol dehydration. Among the oxides studied (e.g., CeO2, ZrO2, and TiO2), the best results were obtained for a CeO2–ZrO2 binary oxide (activity = 3 × 10−6 mmol g−1 h−1), which revealed that a moderate basicity allowed acid–base cooperativity in the Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 phase to produce 1-hydroxyacetone. Indeed, TEM, Raman, XPS and SEM-EDX analyses and textural properties showed that these features influenced the activity of the catalyst towards glycerol conversion by preventing coking.