Design of new solid catalysts for the selective conversion of glycerol

Glycerol is now obtained as a co-product of biodiesel from renewable raw materials with a dramatically increasing production, It follows that one of the most important breakthroughs is to find new catalytic processes for chemical valorizations. The present paper gives a short overview of selective esterification, transesterification or etherification of glycerol via the use of new heterogeneous catalysts. The selectivity control is mainly the result of the synthesis of mesoporous materials for which acidic or basic properties as well as the surface hydrophilic-lipophilic balance were optimized.