Emerging trends in photocatalytic transformation of biomass-derived glycerol into hydrogen fuel and value-added chemicals

Abstract In the quest for sustainable energy production, agricultural biomass has been identified as a feedstock for biofuel production, and biorefining has emerged as a complimentary approach to petrochemical refining. Heterogeneous catalysts are the workhorses utilized both in biomass and crude oil-based refineries. On the other hand, hydrogen production by splitting water using photocatalysts is a sustainable, clean, and green process as it works under ambient temperature utilizing solar light, water, and some auxiliary chemicals. The utilization of biomass derivatives to accelerate photocatalytic hydrogen production is a viable alternative process. In order to boost hydrogen production efficiency, a simple hydroxyl group containing hydrocarbons, namely, methanol, glycerol, and glucose, which could be derived from biomass, are frequently used. In this context, this chapter discusses sustainable approaches to hydrogen production using solar/visible light active photocatalysts utilizing glycerol derived from biomass. Moreover, in recent years, the production of platform chemicals from biomass-derived glycerol through various chemical and catalytic processes has gained increasing importance. Photocatalysis is a mild process that enables selective redox reactions of biomass/biomass-derived products at ambient conditions under solar/visible light irradiation. Hence, the conversion of biomass-derived glycerol into value-added chemicals using photocatalysts is also discussed briefly. The future prospects of the discussed topics are deliberated at the end of the chapter.