Recent Advances in Catalyst Innovation, Mechanism Exploration, and Process Optimization for Synthesis of Glycerol Carbonate

Abstract

The catalytic conversion of bio-based glycerol (Gly) into high-value glycerol carbonate (GC) has received great attention from both the academic and industrial fields. The development of highly efficient catalysts and economical industrial processes remains a challenging subject. In this mini-review, we summary the recent advances in catalyst design, characterization, mechanism, and catalytic process optimization, including the various synthetic strategies of GC, such as the coupling of CO2 and Gly or its derivatives like glycidol (GD), the transesterification of Gly with small carbonate-containing molecules, and the carbonylation of Gly with urea. The main difficulties and challenges faced by constructing high-performance catalysts and achieving scale production of GC have been put forward, and the future research directions and opportunities in catalyst innovation, reaction mechanism exploration, and continuous catalytic process improvement have also been suggested.