Glycerol Valorization—The Role of Biochar Catalysts

Abstract

The conversion of renewable feedstocks into new added-value products is a current hot topic that includes the biodiesel industry. When converting vegetable oils into biodiesel, approximately 10% of glycerol byproduct is produced. Glycerol can be envisaged as a chemical platform due to its chemical versatility, as a scaffold or building block, in producing a wide range of added-value chemicals. Thus, the development of sustainable routes to obtain glycerol-based products is crucial and urgent. This certainly encompasses the use of raw carbonaceous materials from biomass as heterogeneous acid catalysts. Moreover, the integration of surface functional groups, such as sulfonic acid, in carbon-based solid materials, makes them low cost, exhibiting high catalytic activity with concomitant stability. This review summarizes the work developed by the scientific community, during the last 10 years, on the use of biochar catalysts for glycerol transformation.

Synthesis and E-metric Studies of an Economically Viable Heterogeneous Acid Catalyst for Production and Upscaling of Solketal

“…The process mass intensity (PMI) is another green parameter that deals with the sustainability of the synthetic routes. It is defined as the ratio of the total mass of all the materials applied in the reaction process (m total , in mg), such as catalysts, reactants, solvents, and reagents, to the mass of isolated product: (6) In this case, acetalization is a solvent-free mechanism, and its value depends on the amount of catalyst, acetone, and glycerol used and the total mass of solketal. The calculated PMI value for this process was 1.87.…”

“…Approximately 3.2 billion liters will be reached by 2025. 6 Recently, researchers developed new and economical ways to increase glycerol use by valorizing crude glycerol to various value-added products to economize the sustainability of biodiesel industries. 7 There are diverse direct applications of glycerol in different fields, especially in cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, soaps, and the polymer industry.…”

“…In the transesterification process of biodiesel, ∼10 wt % glycerol is produced as a byproduct waste for every 90 wt % biodiesel production , As per the norms of the Indian government’s national biodiesel policy, until 2026, a significant amount of energy can be produced from the biodiesel industry, posing no negative impacts on human health or the environment. , With the continuous expansion of biodiesel production worldwide, an excess of glycerol is supposed to accumulate. Approximately 3.2 billion liters will be reached by 2025 …”