A series of nanocasted oxides were synthesised, and an analysis using basicity measurements provided evidence that low strength basic sites with high accessibility favoured the production of 1-hydroxyacetone from glycerol dehydration. Among the oxides studied (e.g., CeO2. ZrO2, and TiO2). the best results were obtained for a CeO2-ZrO2 binary oxide (activity = 3 x 10(-6) mmol g(-1) h(-1)), which revealed that a moderate basicity allowed acid-base cooperativity in the Ce08Zr0.2O2 phase to produce 1-hydroxyacetone. Indeed, TEM, Raman, XPS and SEM-EDX analyses and textural properties showed that these features influenced the activity of the catalyst towards glycerol conversion by preventing coking. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.