| In a quest of developing cost effective and green catalytic systems for biomass upgradation, recently, Rakesh K. Sharma, Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Chemistry and post-doctoral fellow, Vineet Kumar Soni, utilized natural clay as a heterogeneous catalyst by nanometal intercalation for converting squalene into squalane under solvent free conditions. Squalane is an important ingredient in the cosmetic, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries. Also, it has been used as a model compound for the hydrocracking of crude and microalgae oil. The presence of Pd-nanoparticles with dominating Pd(111) plane showed highest reactivity and selectivity. The catalysts are stable and reusable under the proposed reaction conditions. The group is now focusing on exploring new clay-based catalysts for the production of fuel grade hydrocarbons from vegetable oil, algae oil and related compounds. |
