Water removal in the alkaline electrochemical valorization of glycerol by pervaporation

摘要

Glycerol, as a by-product of biodiesel industries, can be converted into a broad range of high value-added products chemically in the presence of hetero/homogeneous catalysts and also electrochemically in electrolyzers. Using an alkaline medium for glycerol conversion increases the yield of the electrochemical reaction. In several glycerol valorization reactions, water is used as a solvent or is produced as a by-product. Excess water reduces the reaction conversion and hinders the efficiency in alkaline solutions, and hence must be maintained at a low concentration. The removal of water from aqueous salt solutions containing soluble organic species is a very challenging extraction due to the low activity of water.