Dihydroxyacetone (DHA) is a fine chemical and has been widely used in the cosmetics industry. In this work, DHA was synthesized with high selectivity over Au catalysts, also supported by Cu-Zr mixed oxide calcined at different temperatures. The effects of the calcination temperature of supports on the properties and catalytic performance for glycerol oxidation to dihydroxyacetone were also studied. BET and CO2-TPD measurements demonstrated that the increase in the support calcination temperature reduced the specific surface area of the catalyst and further reduced the surface basic sites of the catalysts. With increased support calcination temperature, the surface content of Au0 and the dispersion of Au first increase until the calcination temperature of the support was 600 °C and then decrease. It was also observed that the glycerol conversion is positively correlated with the surface content of Au0 and the dispersion of Au, while upon the increase of the amount of the basic sites, the catalytic activity increases first and then decreases. The suitable support calcination temperature is beneficial for the conversion of glycerol, and the best catalytic performance is obtained when the calcination temperature is 600 °C.
Keywords: Au based catalyst; Calcination temperature; Cu-Zr mixed oxide; Dihydroxyacetone; Glycerol oxidation.
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