Cu catalysts supported on CaO/MgO for glycerol conversion to lactic acid in alkaline medium employing a continuous flow reaction system

The production of lactic acid (LA) from glycerol in alkaline medium was investigated using Cu catalysts supported on CaO, MgO and xCaO/MgO (x = 5, 10, 15 wt%), employing a continuous flow reaction system over a period of 30 h. In addition to assessing the effect of the composition of the catalytic support, the influence of the temperature (200–260 °C), NaOH/glycerol molar ratio (0.5–1.5), hydroxide type (NaOH and KOH), as well as the influence of concentration (10 and 20 vol%) and purity of glycerol was investigated. The catalysts were prepared by a wet impregnation method and characterized by XRF, XRD, N(2) adsorption–desorption, H(2)-TPR and CO(2)-TPD. The catalytic tests showed that the use of NaOH results in higher yields to LA. Cu catalysts supported on xCaO/MgO exhibited better catalytic performance than the CuCa and CuMg catalysts. The LA yield increases with the increase of the reaction temperature from 200 to 240 °C, and then decreases with a subsequent increase to 260 °C. NaOH/glycerol molar ratios greater than 1.25 are not necessary, since high yield to LA (96.9%) was obtained in the catalytic test performed using a molar ratio of 1.25. The catalysts showed excellent stability without evidence of deactivation over the evaluated period.