Synthesis of Electroless Cu-Ni-Mo-P/Al2O3 for Glycerol Hydrogenolysis to Propan-1,2-diol

A low pressure technique for the hydrogenolysis of glycerol to propan-1, 2-diol is being investigated in stages. The first step involves the development of a Cu-Ni-Mo/Al₂O₃ prepared by electroless deposition method. The technique of making Al₂O₃ support active for electroless deposition of copper and is reported (copper and nickel show good hydrogenolytic activity towards this reaction). Work done includes the determination of optimal metal loading, pH and temperature ranges for the supported metal catalysts and the characterization of active catalyst using XRD, TEM SEM and EDAX. Detailed microstructural and texture characterization of the Cu-Ni-Mo/Al₂O₃ catalysts, and their correlation with glycerol hydrogenolytic activity will be presented.