Glycerol dehydration to acrolein was studied with three catalysts using zeolite-Y. This zeolite in its protonic form (HY), with La (LaY) and Pd with La (Pd/LaY), was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) with pyridine, BET, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)–Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy X-ray (EDS) and the catalytic activity tests were carried out under H₂ atmosphere. It was found that La ions exchanged in the zeolite-Y resulted in the improvement of both glycerol conversion and yield to acrolein, also a relatively constant glycerol conversion was achieved up to three hours, due to the presence of Pd on the catalyst and H₂ in the feed. The comparison of the calculated and experimental yields obtained from the catalytic tests of the Pd/LaY catalyst indicates a greater activity for the reaction to acrolein than for the reaction to acetol. The calculated equilibrium yields of the dehydration reaction from glycerol to acrolein, acetol, ethanal, methanol, and water and the experimental yields of a Pd/LaY catalyst were compared. Thermodynamically, a complete conversion of glycerol can be achieved since the general system remains exothermic and promotes the path to acetol below 480 K. Above this temperature the system consumes energy and favors the production of acrolein, reaching its maximum concentration at 600 K.

A process composed by a catalytic converter and three sequential Airlift photobioreactors containing the microalga Scenedesmus dimorphus was studied to capture CO2, NOx, and CO from emissions of a steam boiler which was burning diesel. The catalytic converter transformed to CO2 a maximum of 78% of the CO present in the combustion gas. The effects of shear rate, light intensity, and light/dark cycles on the biomass growth of the algae were studied. It was observed that at low shear rates (Re ≈ 3200), a high productivity of 0.29 gcel L−1 d−1 was obtained. When the microalga was exposed to 60.75 µmol·m−2·s−1 of intensity of light and a light/dark cycle of 16/8 h, a maximum productivity of 0.44 gcel L−1 d−1 and a maximum CO2 fixation rate 0.8 g CO2 L−1·d−1 were obtained. The maximum CO2 removal efficiency was 64.3%, and KLa for CO2 and O2 were 1.2 h−1 and 3.71 h−1 respectively.

The separation of a mixture of C5–C9 n-paraffins was achieved by Inverse Gas Chromatography (IGC) by using boehmite; AlO(OH), in a packed column with short exposure times and temperatures; from 45 °C to 52 °C. The boehmite was characterized by XRD; ATG; SEM; IR spectroscopy and N₂ adsorption. The material exhibited a low crystalline boehmite (AlOOH) structure and presented high hydration (pseudoboehmite). The reverse gas chromatography measurements showed that the elution temperatures of the C5–C9 n-paraffins were low compared with those obtained for other adsorbents. The differential heat of adsorption values ensures the satisfactory separation of the components in the C5–C9 mixture under suitable chromatographic conditions.

The biodiesel production yields glycerine as a by-product in quantities around 10 vol% of produced biodiesel. Acrolein can be obtained from glycerine by a dehydration reaction. Catalytic processes in gas phase have been developed to obtain acrolein from a renewable feedstock using heterogeneous catalysts. The main process variables are the reaction temperature, the concentration of glycerol in water, and the space velocity in fixed-bed reactors. A thermodynamic study of the equilibrium has been made to estimate the conversion to equilibrium as a function of temperature. The reactors have been heated usually between 523 and 603 K. Generally, an aqueous glycerol solution is preheated in a preheating zone at a temperature enough to vaporize the feedstock, between 473 and 533 K, depending on the concentration of reactant required in the feed. Some of the most active catalysts in the gas-phase reaction (yield >70%) were NH4-La-β zeolite, Pd/LaY zeolite, hierarchical ZSM-5, WO3/ZrO2, WO3/TiO2, ZrOx-NbOx, WOx-NbOx, WO3-SiO2/ZrO2, NbOx-WOx/Al2O3, H3PO4-MCM-41, SAPO-40, NbPSi, Pd-H3PW12O40/Zr-MCM-41, H3PW12O40/Cs-SBA-15, H3PW12O40/Nb2O5, Cs-doped H4SiW12O40/Al2O3, H4SiW12O40/TiO2, and H4SiW12O40/SiO2.