Exploring Catalytic Pathways for Glycerol Valorization: A Review

ABSTRACT The accelerated development of biodiesel plants leads to an excess of their major by‐product, glycerol. Significant efforts have been made to find applications for converting crude glycerol into valuable chemicals. Nevertheless, the current state of conversion technologies still faces difficulties concerning their commercial applications. In this review, we briefly present the research progress (2019–2025) regarding glycerol transformation, mostly oxidation, into value‐added products, focusing on emerging strategies recently reported or with fewer publications, such as plasma and photocatalysis. Specifically, we will comprehensively discuss the glycerol conversion using various catalysts, including supported metallic nanoparticles, photocatalysts—mainly metal–organic frameworks and plasmonic photocatalysts, as well as plasma treatment.