Search for a Raney-Ni type catalyst efficient in the transformation of excess glycerol into more valuable products

•Syntheses of Raney-type catalysts with environmentally more benign method•Glycerol transformation into more useful chemicals•The transformations of Raney-NiAl on contact with glycerol•An efficient and recyclable Raney-type NiSi material is identified.

Al- and Si-containing Raney-Ni catalysts have been prepared with a method, which uses significantly less NaOH than the one described in the original recipe, i.e., with method benign to the environment. The catalysts were characterised by a variety of techniques (X-ray diffractometry, thermal methods, and BET surface area measurements). The samples were used in transforming glycerol into more useful products. They were found to be highly active and selective in producing acetol, a compound of current interest. Nevertheless, only the silicon-containing sample behaved as a real catalyst, i.e. it could be regenerated and recycled. The Al-containing samples were decomposed to intermetallic- and Al-(oxy)hydroxide phases during the reaction.

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