A thermally stable and non-porous carbon material (S-BET = 10 m(2) g(-1) and no micropores), with low ash content and basic character, was produced by partial carbonization of glycerol with sulphuric acid followed by calcination under inert atmosphere. Further thermal activation in air atmosphere at different temperatures (from 150 to 350 degrees C) leads to materials with less basic character and to a tremendous evolution of the porosity, mostly microporosity (S-BET = 598 m(2) g(-1) and V-Mic = 0.24 cm(3) g(-1)). Experiments show that metal-free carbon materials synthesized by this approach can be highly active catalysts for the catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) process when the surface chemistry and textural properties are adequately tuned. Effective catalytic degradation of 2-nitrophenol (80% conversion) was achieved with the material treated under air atmosphere at 300 degrees C, even when operating under a high pollutant/catalyst mass ratio, opening a window of opportunity for added-value crude glycerol-derived products. Furthermore, catalyst activity was effectively recovered by a simple oxidative thermal regeneration procedure. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.