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Thermochemical Routes of Glycerol Transformation to Commodity Chemicals

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Glycerol

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Abstract

The chemical industry ultimately produces polymers for the use of the general public. Today, most of the chemicals are based on oil, coal or natural gas, which reserves are limited and exploitation associated with global warming. In the past years, there were many developments of technological routes to produce chemicals from renewable. The possibility of replacing oil and gas by biomass puts the chemical industry at the forefront of the research and development of new processes. This chapter highlights recent advances in the conversion of glycerol to commodity chemicals, mostly used to produce polymers. Glycerol can be an interesting raw material to replace propylene-based chemicals, such as propylene glycol, acrolein and acrylic acid. Other developments are also discussed, such as a pioneer process of selective glycerol hydrogenolysis to propene itself, as well as production of syngas, hydrogen and methanol.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemistry, School of Chemistry, INCT of Energy and Environment, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Claudio J. A. Mota

  2. Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Bianca Peres Pinto & Ana LĂșcia de Lima

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  1. Claudio J. A. Mota
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  2. Bianca Peres Pinto
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  3. Ana LĂșcia de Lima
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Mota, C.J.A., Peres Pinto, B., de Lima, A.L. (2017). Thermochemical Routes of Glycerol Transformation to Commodity Chemicals. In: Glycerol. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59375-3_4

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