The rapid growth of the biodiesel industry has lead to the production of large amounts of glycerol — a major byproduct of biodiesel production. For 2010, the amount of glycerol produced world-wide is estimated at 1.2 million tonnes. Feng Wang and co-workers, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have developed an oxidative dehydration method that converts glycerol into acrylic acid, acrolein, and other useful chemicals.

They use an embedded catalyst, with iron oxide (FeO_x) domains on the surface of an iron orthovanadate (FeVO₄) phase. The embedded structure stabilizes the nanometer-sized FeO_x domains so that their activity is maintained. This allows better catalytic performance than a FeO_x catalyst prepared by impregnation or a mixture of FeVO4 and Fe₂O₃: Acrylic acid could be produced with 14 % yield.

Image: (c) Wiley-VCH

• Catalytic Oxidative Dehydration of Glycerol over a Catalyst with Iron Oxide Domains Embedded in an Iron Orthovanadate Phase
  F. Wang, J. Xu, J.-L. Dubois, W. Ueda,
  ChemSusChem 2010, 3, 1383–1389.
  DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201000245