Conversion of glycerol to propanediol and acrolein by heterogeneous catalysis

Consequence of an important increase in world biodiesel production, in the last decade the level of glycerol offered on the market exceeded the consumption rate. Beside its classical utilizations, particularly in pharmaceutical and food industries, glycerol emerges as an important renewable chemical that can be transformed into medium tonnage chemical products, replacing petroleum based intermediates. An important category of processes for glycerol conversion into value added chemicals are based on heterogeneous catalysis. This paper reviews the main research works investigating the glycerol transformation into two chemical products of industrial importance: propanediols and acrolein. Even if, on short term, these researches do not have an obvious economical impact, they certainly present an important potential for the future, when new feedstocks and processes will have to replace actual petroleum based products and technologies.