Influence of WO Content in Phosphated Tungsten-Zirconium Oxide Catalysts on the Catalytic Pathways of Glycerol Transformation.

The catalytic performance of phosphate-stabilized WO-ZrO compositions in gas-phase glycerol dehydration has been investigated. Results show that varying WO concentrations direct the process towards either acrolein or allyl alcohol formation. Catalysts with low WO content exhibit strong Lewis acid sites (Zr and W), where these metal ions likely function as redox sites, facilitating glycerol hydrogenolysis to produce allyl alcohol.

Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia as a High-Performance Catalyst for Ethanol to -Butanol Guerbet Coupling.

It has been shown that yttria-stabilized zirconia is an effective catalyst for ethanol to -butanol Guerbet coupling. The variation of the calcination temperature allows an improvement in the catalytic characteristics of this material via stabilization of the tetragonal phase of zirconia, having higher basicity than the monoclinic one. The treatment of yttria-stabilized zirconia at an optimal calcination temperature of 500 °C induces the increase in surface basicity required for the aldol condensation step, along with a decrease in surface acidity, which is responsible for the side reaction such as ethylene formation.