How gold can recycle biofuel waste into useful additive

Gold nanoparticles serve as catalysts for obtaining valuable chemical products based on glycerol. Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University and their international colleagues are developing gold catalysts to recycle one of the main byproducts of biofuel production. The obtained products are in high demand in medicine, agriculture, cosmetic industry and other sectors.

“Today the production of biofuels is an important area in many countries. They can be obtained from a great variety of biomasses. In Latin America, it is orange and tangerine peel as well as banana skin. In USA biofuels are produced from corn, in the central part of Russia and Europe – from rape (Brassica napus). When processing these plants into biofuels a large amount of glycerol is formed. It's esters constitute the basis of oils and fats. Glycerol is widely used in cosmetic industry as an individual product. However, much more glycerol is obtained in the production of biofuels – many thousands of tonnes a year. As a result, unused glycerol merely becomes waste,” described the problem Alexey Pestryakov, head of department of physical and analytical chemistry. “Now, a lot of research groups are engaged in this issue as to how to transform excess glycerol into other useful products. Along with our foreign colleagues, we offered catalysts based on gold nanoparticles".
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