Cu/boehmite: A highly active catalyst for hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol

Small Cu clusters (~ 1 nm) were highly dispersed over boehmite via an aqueous chemical reduction method. In comparison with Cu/γ-Al2O3, Cu/SiO2 and Ru/C catalyst, Cu/boehmite catalyst showed the highest conversion and selectivity of 1,2-propanediol in the hydrogenolysis of glycerol. The good conversion and selectivity are ascribed to the small size of Cu metal clusters and the Lewis acid sites of boehmite, which provides high surface concentrations of active metal sites without CC bond cleavage activity and promotes the dehydration of glycerol to acetol as the intermediate of 1,2-propanediol, respectively.

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► Boehmite as new support for Cu catalysts in the glycerol hydrogenolysis.
► Cu/boehmite possesses small and uniform particle size.
► Cu/boehmite has good performance in hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol.