Flexible glycerol conversion process
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to a process for converting byproducts of the manufacture of biodiesel into industrially useful oxygenated products of greater commercial value. The process includes a trickle bed reactor in which a glycerol-rich feedstock is reacted with hydrogen in the presence of a nickel-tungsten catalyst under typical refining condition of high temperature and pressure, yielding propane synfuel or propanediols.
1. A process for converting glycerol for producing a product, comprising the steps of:
providing a glycerol containing feedstock;
reacting the glycerol containing feedstock with hydrogen in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst wherein the catalyst used is nickel tungsten; and
recovering the converted glycerol into a product selected from the group comprising propane, 1,3-propanediol and combinations thereof.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein a nickel tungsten catalyst surface texture is a high macropore texture.
3. The process of claim 2 wherein glycerol is contacted with the nickel tungsten catalyst in a fixed bed reactor.
4. The process of claim 3 wherein the fixed bed reactor operates in a chemical mode and a synfuel mode.
5. The process of claim 4 wherein in the synfuel mode glycerol is converted to propane synfuel.
6. The process of claim 5 wherein in the chemical mode glycerol is converted to propylene glycol and 1,3-propanediol.
7. A process for converting glycerol for producing a product, comprising the steps of: providing a glycerol containing feedstock; reacting the glycerol containing feedstock with hydrogen in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst, wherein the catalyst used is nickel molybdenum; and recovering the converted glycerol into a product selected from the group comprising propane, 1,3-propanediol, and combinations thereof.
8. The process of claim 1 wherein glycerol is converted into propane synfuel.
9. The process of claim 1 further comprising the step of:
heating the reaction of the glycerol containing feedstock with hydrogen in the presence of the catalyst to a temperature greater than about 600° F.
10. The process of claim 9 wherein the product resulting from the process is propane synfuel.