New Catalysts for the Hydrogenation of Glucose to Sorbitol

Nickel catalysts supported on ZrO2, TiO2 and ZrO2/TiO2 mixtures performed more active, selective and stable than Ni/SiO2 catalysts in the hydrogenation of glucose to sorbitol. This was shown by catalytic testing as well as by determination of Ni crystallite size before and after the test. The reason for the better performance was assumed to be metal‐support interaction in the Ni/ZrO2, Ni/TiO2 and Ni/ZrO2/TiO2 catalysts. The influence of the nature of the support on the catalytic activity, selectivity and stability of supported nickel catalysts in the hydrogenation of D‐glucose to sorbitol is shown. The hydrogenation was performed in an autoclave using aqueous glucose solution. Furthermore the catalysts were characterized by CO chemisorption, XRD, XRF and determination of the nickel metal content.