The world’s biodiesel increasing production is leading to the accumulation of its main by-product, crude glycerol, with almost no economic value, which valorization is crucial to increase biodiesel production sustainability and competitiveness. Glycerol is a potential platform chemical, with several valorization routes identified. Among them, selective catalytic aerobic oxidation is an attractive and sustainable solution, as high added value products ensure the process robustness against raw material price fluctuations. When glycerol’s secondary hydroxyl group is selectively oxidized, dihydroxyacetone (DHA) is obtained. DHA is a high added value compound, used in cosmetics as the active compound in sunless skin tanning lotions, and its current industrial production by bio-fermentation is not satisfactory; therefore a more efficient production process is needed to overcome the market deficit. The state-of-the-art of DHA production by glycerol aerobic catalytic oxidation in the liquid phase with water as solvent was reviewed and, although it is still in the lab-scale phase, some routes to reach a robust commercial application were already suggested. For DHA production, catalysts should be active under base free conditions, in order to achieve high DHA selectivity. Promoted Pt nanoparticles, as Pt-Bi and Pt-Sb supported in carbon and mesoporous materials, and Au nanoparticles, supported late transition metal oxides as Au/CuO and Au/ZnO, are among the most promising catalysts for high DHA yield processes. For a better understanding of the main variables associated with this process, the effect of catalyst support, particle size, preparation and activation methods, and catalyst deactivation problems were analyzed. In addition, the reaction conditions effect in catalyst performance, including the presence of crude glycerol impurities was considered. Finally, the main studies regarding DHA continuous flow production were reviewed, identifying the major obstacles to overcome, so that commercial DHA production processes through glycerol aerobic catalytic oxidation can finally be implemented.

世界生物柴油产量的增加导致其主要副产物粗甘油的积累，而该甘油几乎没有任何经济价值，这种增值对提高生物柴油生产的可持续性和竞争力至关重要。甘油是一种潜在的平台化学品，已确定了几种增价途径。其中，选择性催化好氧氧化是一种有吸引力且可持续的解决方案，因为高附加值的产品可确保过程抵御原材料价格波动的稳定性。当甘油的仲羟基被选择性地氧化时，得到二羟基丙酮（DHA）。DHA是一种高附加值的化合物，在化妆品中用作日光浴晒黑乳液中的活性化合物，目前其通过生物发酵的工业化生产并不令人满意。因此需要更有效的生产工艺来克服市场不足。综述了在水为溶剂的液相中通过甘油好氧催化氧化生产DHA的最新技术，尽管它仍处于实验室规模，但已经提出了一些实现稳健商业应用的途径。对于DHA生产，催化剂应在无碱条件下具有活性，以实现高DHA选择性。碳和介孔材料中负载的Pt-Bi和Pt-Sb促进了Pt纳米颗粒，而Au / CuO和Au / ZnO负载了后期过渡金属氧化物的Au纳米颗粒，是高DHA收率工艺中最有希望的催化剂。为了更好地了解与此过程相关的主要变量，催化剂载体的影响，粒径，制备和活化方法，以及催化剂失活的问题进行了分析。另外，考虑了反应条件对催化剂性能的影响，包括粗甘油杂质的存在。最后，综述了有关DHA连续流生产的主要研究，确定了要克服的主要障碍，从而最终可以实现通过甘油好氧催化氧化的商业DHA生产过程。