A Comparative Study of the Divalent Transition Metal Oxide Supported on Magnesium Oxide Catalyst for Lactic Acid Production from Glucose

Abstract

Abstract In order to achieve the lactic acid production of lower energy consumption, reactor corrosion rate, while being environmentally friendly and sustaining high catalytic activity of various divalent transition metal oxide (Cu, Co, Ni and Zn) supported on magnesium oxide having the hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a capping agent was investigated, where the reaction was performed under mild conditions in an alkali additive-free environment. Among all of the divalent candidates, the ZnCTAB/MgO exhibits the highest activity with a glucose conversion of 64% at a 100°C and a lactic acid yield of 12% at 140°C, a pressure of 0.4 MPa, over 1 h of reaction time. This is due to the high basicity produced via the water chemisorption on such catalyst’s surface.