Effect of preparation parameters of Cu catalysts on their physico-chemical properties and activities for glycerol hydrogenolysis

Cu based catalysts were prepared by co-precipitation, alkali fusion followed by precipitation and direct solid state fusion methods. The changes in the phase formation, morphology, crystallite size, extent of aggregation, strength and nature of acid sites were observed due to variations in precipitating agents and also their order of addition. The catalyst prepared by co-precipitation using Na2CO3 showed the predominant presence of metallic Cu phase with a crystallite size of 5 nm, well segregated spherical morphology and highest acidity in the activated sample. These intrinsic properties contributed to achieve the highest glycerol conversion of 62% and 1,2-PDO selectivity of 88% in glycerol hydrogenolysis.

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► Cu catalysts prepared by co-precipitation using various alkalies and also by solid state fusion.
► Physico-chemical characteristics varied dramatically with the change in alkali as well as preparation methods.
► CAP (Na2CO3) catalyst showed major phase of metallic Cu having well segregated particles of 5–8 nm.
► CAP (Na2CO3) catalyst gave the highest glycerol conversion of 62% with 88% selectivity to 1,2-PDO.