Electrochemical production of lactic acid from glycerol oxidation catalyzed by AuPt nanoparticles

The production of valuable chemicals from relatively inexpensive feedstocks utilizing electrochemical methods has been attracting widespread attention in recent years since it is highly efficient, decentralized, environmental-friendly and can operate in room temperature and pressure. Currently, the industrial production of lactic acid is mainly based on bio-fermentation, leading to drawbacks including severe conditions, unfriendliness to environment, low efficiency and requirement of expensive equipment, which can potentially overcome by electrochemical methods. Herein, we report for the first time the preparation of lactic acid at room temperature and pressure from the one-pot electro-oxidation of glycerol, a byproduct from biodiesel production. AuPt nanoparticles with different surface compositions were employed in this work to optimize the catalysis performance, and the glycerol oxidation was operated at a series of applied potentials, pH and glycerol concentration. The optimal lactic acid selectivity was 73%, obtained with Au-enriched surface at applied potential of 0.45 V vs. RHE.