LACTITOL SYNTHESIS IN SLUDGE BED REACTOR, USING LACTOSE PA AND MO2C OR NI3C CATALYSTS
molybdenum carbide, nickel carbide, lactitol, lactose, catalysts
Aiming at a more noble reuse of dairy waste for the production of cheese in the industry, popularly known as cheese whey, there is a lactose hydrogenation procedure, which represents approximately 70% of the whey volume, transforming lactose into lactitol, an alcohol of high added value, used mainly as a sweetener and/or laxative, with many characteristics superior to similar products. For this procedure to be efficient, it is necessary to synthesize and characterize solid metallic catalysts, usually by noble transition metals, such as: Nickel, Cobalt, Tungsten and Molybdenum, supported on Alumina, but new materials are being developed, including Carbides are already proving to be a good replacement option, such as Ni, Mo and Ni-Mo carbides, supported on activated carbon. Metallic carbides were identified as multivalent catalysts, high sulfur tolerance, low poisoning, low cost and sometimes more efficient than other noble metals. In this present work, the catalysts that will be tested are Mo and Ni carbides, passivated in 1% oxygen and supported on high porosity activated carbon. The hydrogenation reaction will be carried out in a slurry bed reactor, with mixing speed of 500 rpm, isotherm of 150 degrees celsius with 3 hours of hold at 70 atm pressure.