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.

利用电化学方法从相对便宜的原料生产有价值的化学物质由于其高效，分散，环境友好并且可以在室温和压力下运行而引起了近年来的广泛关注。当前，乳酸的工业生产主要基于生物发酵，导致缺点，包括苛刻的条件，对环境不友好，效率低和需要昂贵的设备，这可以通过电化学方法克服。在此，我们首次报道了由一锅法电氧化甘油（一种生物柴油生产的副产物）在室温和压力下制备乳酸的方法。在这项工作中使用具有不同表面组成的AuPt纳米颗粒来优化催化性能，并且在一系列施加的电势，pH和甘油浓度下进行甘油氧化。最佳的乳酸选择性为73％，是在相对于RHE施加0.45 V的施加电势下富含金的表面获得的。