LAUSR

Glycerol, as the major byproduct of biodiesel industry, is a cheap and green chemical feedstock. Following the expanded production of biodiesel, the oversupply of glycerol has led to the increasing researches of the catalytic conversion of glycerol. The selective hydrogenolysis of glycerol is an economical and sustainable way to produce 1,3-propanediol with both of a global growing demand and valorization of glycerol. However, the secondary hydroxyl group of glycerol sterically hindered by two primary hydroxyl groups. It results that 1,2-propanediol is the preferential product rather than 1,3-propanediol under the conventional hydrogenolysis of glycerol process. Currently, tungsten-containing bifunctional catalysts with metal and Brønsted acid sites are considered as the high-effective and atom-economical catalytic system for the selective hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,3-propanediol. Therefore, we have summarized various tungsten-containing bifunctional catalysts for the hydrogenolysis of glycerol in detail and deeply discussed the relationship between tungsten species, metal active sites and glycerol for selectively producing 1,3-propanediol.