Sustainable Value-added C3 Chemicals from Glycerol Transformations: A Mini Review for Heterogeneous Catalytic Processes

It is of importance to convert glycerol, the primary by-product from biodiesel manufacturing, to various valuable C3 chemicals, such as acrolein via dehydration, lactic acid, 1,3-dihydroxyacetone via oxidation, and 1,3-propanediol, allyl alcohol via hydrogenolysis. As compared to petroleum-based resources, C3 chemicals from glycerol provide a benign, sustainable and atomically economic feature. Extensive heterogeneous catalysts have been designed, prepared and tested for these transformations. In recent five years, great progress, including high yields to target products over appropriate catalysts, insight into reaction mechanism and network, has been achieved. The present review systematically covers recent research progress on sustainable C3 chemical production from catalytic glycerol transformations. We hope that it will benefit future research on transformations of glycerol as well as other polyols.