We report the role of the acidity of support during the selectivity hydrogenolysis of glycerol over supported bimetallic palladium-ruthenium (PdRu) catalysts. The PdRu nanoparticles were supported on a series of metal oxides and zeolitic supports via the modified impregnation method and tested for the liquid-phase hydrogenolysis of glycerol using gaseous hydrogen. The relative acid site densities of selected catalysts were determined by ammonia temperature-programmed desorption and pyridine desorption experiments. Based on these studies, we report a direct correlation between the catalytic activity (conversion and 1,2 propane diol yield) and two different acid sites (strong acid sites and very strong acid sites). Besides zeolite-supported catalysts, TiO2 supported PdRu nanoparticles exhibit moderate catalytic activity; however, this catalyst shows high selectivity for the desired C-O bond cleavage to produce C3 products over the undesired C-C bond cleavage to produce < C3 products. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Science to enable the circular economy'.
Keywords: bifunctional catalyst; bimetallic; glycerol; hydrogenolysis; support.