The striking property of sodium gluconate is its high chelating power, mainly in alkaline and concentrated alkaline solutions in its concentrated form. It produces stable chelates with iron, aluminum, copper, calcium and other heavy metals
Sodium gluconate has been synthesized by bismuth-promoted Pd/C catalyst [13]. PdCl2 to Bi(NO)3·5H2O weight ratio of 1–3 during catalyst preparation was found to be the most desirable for best promotion effect. Reaction time reduced and Bi hindered Pd/C deactivation in comparison with other noble metal catalyst.
The present work is an attempt to study the partial oxidation of glucose in a three-phase stirred slurry reactor. Glucose is oxidized to gluconic acid and subsequently to sodium gluconate on addition of sodium hydroxide. A three-phase slurry reactor was fabricated and the reaction carried out by bubbling air through the glucose solution in the presence of Cr2O3/Al2O3 catalyst, adding NaOH and hydrogen peroxide at a pH between 9 and 10