Oxidation of glycerol to form various types of important short chain oxygenated derivatives became an important reaction to support biodiesel industries. In this study, a series of AuPd nanoparticles at different metal ratio which were 9:1 and 8:2 supported on titania (TiO₂) were successfully prepared, characterized and tested for its activity and selectivity in liquid phase oxidation reaction of glycerol. All the catalysts were prepared by deposition-precipitation method with decomposition of urea agents. AuxPdy/TiO₂ catalysts were characterized using XRD, TEM and XPS. The formation of alloy Au-Pd phase was ascertained by XRD and XPS analysis. TEM analyses have shown that the Au and Pd metal particles in the range of 10-30 nm in size were uniformly dispersed on the TiO₂ support with narrower size distribution. Higher catalytic activity observed for the catalysts was attributed to the presence of metallic Au0 and PdO phases together with the ‘synergistic’ effect of Au-Pd alloy. The highest selectivity to tartronic acid (54.6%) was obtained by using Au₉Pd1/TiO₂ catalyst after 8 h of reaction time at lower reaction temperature (50⁰C).
