Catalytic Cracking of Glycerol to Fine Chemicals over Equilibrium Fluid Catalytic Cracking Catalyst

Effective conversion of glycerol into fuels and chemicals is an emerging field in terms economic viability of first generation bio- fuels development. In the present work the refinery fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process is used to convert the biomass -derived glycerol into possible fine chemicals through a series of reactions like dehydration, cracking and hydrogen transfer. The catalytic cracking of biomass–derived glycerol have been carried out using industrially available fluid catalytic cracking equilibrium catalyst (E-CAT) in an advanced cracking evaluation (ACE-R) FCC unit for temperatures ranging from 350 to 550 °C. The catalyst-to-oil (C/O) ratio was kept constant at 5 wt.%. At higher temperatures (430-550 °C) 100% glycerol conversion and 50% of acetaldehyde yield was obtained with E-CAT. The maximum yield of acrolein was found to be 7.61% at 430 °C temperature; whereas the yield of acetaldehyde was increased with increase in temperature and it was higher at 550 °C. The gas and liquid products have been analyzed using gas chromatography (GC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques, respectively. Carbon dioxide produced in the regeneration process was analyzed using infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Further in the liquid product, in addition to acetaldehyde and acrolein, light olefins and aromatics were also found.