Application of Glycerol in Microbial Biosynthesis and Biocatalysis

Renewable biodiesel is a widely accepted energy for its alternative use of petroleum diesel. Glycerol is an inevitable byproduct of biodiesel production. With the vigorous development of biodiesel industry, there is an obvious oversupply of glycerol. This over-generated green resource urgently needs further exploration for the sustainable new applications, which is critical to the development of biodiesel industry and is in accordance with the demands of green chemistry. In recent years, glycerol has become one of the most important raw material for the production of high value-added chemicals. Moreover, based on its special physicochemical properties, as well as degradability and good biocompatibility, glycerol plays an increasingly important role in biocatalysis and can be used as a new green solvent. This paper mainly reviews the progress on glycerol for industrial biotechnology application in microbial fermentation, biosynthesis and green solvent. Some practical application problems involved in glycerol biotransformation, such as feedstock quality and microbial utilization efficiency, are also discussed in detail. The future application development of glycerol in biocatalysis is also prospected.