Added Value to Biodiesel Glycerine

As biodiesel glycerine is known the impure by-product generated in the biodiesel production. Biodiesel glycerine has been of extensive interest during the last few years as a by-product from this biofuel industry. The major issues for the utilisation of biodiesel glycerine as a reliable raw material for the industry are quality and availability of sufficient supply, the main interest these days is however the development of robust processes for purification and chemical conversion in more valuable chemicals.

The partnership between the University of York and Brocklesby/Double Green Ltd. have improved the quality of the co-product up to a commercial specification however; the main interest of our research is the use of this material in higher added value applications. Despite of the extensive use of glycerol (glycerine component) in a large number of products the glycerine generated at Brocklesby/Double Green Ltd. will be generally excluded from most of these applications is it is derived from a waste material such as Used Cooking Oil (UCO) and current regulations establish adequate routes for use and disposal of these type of by-products. An environmentally and economically aceptable route for glycerine is the production of valuable chemicals such as:

• Oligomerisation; production of polyglycerols and alike compounds with potential use as building blocks for polymers/speciality lubricants
• Esterification; esters of organic acids are well known glycerol derivatives with known applications within the Industry, such as fuel additives or plasticisers.
• Hydrogenolis; with focus on the production of 1,2-Propendiol, 1,2-PDO is employed in antifreeze/cooling formulations
• Bioconversion ; Into other platform chemicals such as succinic acid o 1,3-Propanediol, employed in polymer chemistry

The partnership has been recently awarded with the “Innovator 2010; Partners in Innovation” award from Yorkshire Forward for the utilisation of glycerine in anaerobic digestion and water treatment.