Journal of Fuel Chemistry and Technology•2026•DOI: 10.1016/S1872-5813(26)60695-0
The direct carbonylation of glycerol with CO2 to glycerol carbonate represents a promising route for CO2 utilization, addressing both carbon emission reduction and the synthesis of value-added chemicals. However, the reaction is thermodynamically limited, resulting in low glycerol conversion, necessitating the use of coupling agents and appropriate catalysts. This review systematically examines recent progress in homogeneous catalysts (inorganic and organic bases) and heterogeneous catalysts (Zn, Cu, Ce, La, Mg, noble metals, modified zeolites, non-metallic materials) for this transformation. Strategies such as metal oxide modification, support optimization, precursor selection, and construction of acidic-basic sites are analyzed for enhancing catalytic performance. The effects of coupling agents including acetonitrile, adiponitrile, 2-cyanopyridine, MgCO3, CaC2, and NaHCO3 are summarized. Notably, 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU), Zn(QTf)2, and metal composite oxides like ZnO-CeO2 have demonstrated promising catalytic performance. Future research directions include developing organometallic complexes or composite metal oxides with highly dispersed active sites and tailored morphologies to modulate surface area, pore size, and acidity/basicity; optimizing coupling agents or designing novel membrane reactors to improve glycerol conversion; and introducing polar solvents to enhance reactant adsorption and activation. These approaches provide valuable references for catalyst design and reaction system optimization in the carbonylation of glycerol with CO2.
Journal of Fuel Chemistry and Technology•2026•DOI: 10.1016/S1872-5813(26)60690-1
Methane cracking driven by electric power holds significant promise in the context of the rapid development of renewable energy. The effects of carrier gas ratio, input power, and inlet gas flow rate on CH4 cracking performance were systematically investigated in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. The variation of temperature distribution and reaction energy intensity were also examined. The experimental results indicate that CH4 conversion and gaseous product formation are promoted by increasing the DBD input power or decreasing the inlet gas flow rate. At an input power of 90 W and an inlet gas flow rate of 200 mL/min, the single-pass CH4 conversion reaches 46.6%, with an H2 yield of 23.3%, demonstrating that CH4 cracking is governed by electron induced reactions. While the Joule heating from the inner and outer electrodes is relatively limited. The reaction energy intensity increases as the CH4 conversion decreases. When the inlet gas flow rate increases from 200 to 800 mL/min, the energy intensity rises by approximately 2.8 times, indicating that higher inlet gas flow rates enhance the convective heat transfer and shorten the gas residence time, thereby suppressing deep CH4 cracking. Moreover, BOLSIG+ calculations further reveal that CH4 activation is dominated by electron induced vibrational excitation, in which stepwise energy accumulation drives C–H bond dissociation. The energy transfer and species transformation pathways of overall CH4 cracking process, which comprises electron energy injection, vibrational excitation, stepwise dissociation, radical chain extension, and final product formation, can be summarized into three stages, i.e. methane activation, radical evolution, and product formation.