A submerged catalysis/membrane filtration system for hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol over Cu-ZnO catalyst

A submerged catalysis/membrane filtration system was designed and constructed for the semi-continuous hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol over Cu-ZnO catalyst. In this system, the in situ separation of Cu-ZnO catalyst from the reaction mixture could be realized. In this article, the effects of the introduction of a membrane module and the operation conditions on the catalytic properties of glycerol hydrogenolysis as well as the membrane filtration performance were investigated. It turned out that the sealing material of ceramic membrane significantly affected the glycerol conversion and the ceramic membrane had no influence on the reaction performance. The properties of the reaction and filtration depended strongly on the operation conditions. Semi-continuous glycerol hydrogenolysis indicated that the 1,2-propanediol selectivity could be maintained at about 88% with a glycerol conversion above 21% during eight catalytic reaction cycles, and the ceramic membrane exhibited excellent stability during the entire hydrogenolysis process. This work would aid the development of environmental-friendly membrane reactor for the production of 1,2-propanediol.