Both a system and a method for scrubbing a contaminated gas stream with a glycerol solution are disclosed. The system includes a contaminated gas stream in need of purification, along with a column which receives the contaminated gas stream. A glycerol solution is also received by the column and is used to scrub the contaminated gas stream in the column. The glycerol solution is used to reduce at least three contaminants from the gas stream, and includes greater than 50% glycerol and less than 98% glycerol. In one embodiment, the glycerol solution includes between 0.5% to 10% salts, wherein the salts are sodium based, potassium based or a combination thereof. The salts act catalytically to convert glycerol and carbon dioxide to glycerol carbonate.