THERMODYNAMIC STUDY OF CATALYTIC CONVERSION OF GLYCEROL STEAM REFORMING TO OLEFINS

Executive Summary of Research Proposal

Glycerol, an alcohol and oxygenated chemical byproduct from biodiesel production, has enormous potential to be converted into higher value-added fuels and chemicals. Due to the alarming excessive production of glycerol worldwide that have triggered environmental concerns, and the importance of olefins in the industry, it is therefore essential to explore the process of glycerol-to-olefin (GTO) in greater depth. This is mainly due to the fact that no dedicated study concerning GTO has been performed. Detail catalytic study has been previously studied and results are promising. However, there is a need to explore GTO in bigger perspective. In order to pursue this, complex thermodynamic analysis via simultaneous dehydration, dehydrogenation and deoxygenation of glycerol at various temperature, pressure and flowrate will be investigated. Empiral models will be used to generate thermodynamic data analysis. The result from this study will be a novel thermodynamic analysis of catalytic conversion of glycerol to olefins via complex reaction network.