Seminar on glycerine for the American Oil Chemists' Society

28-May-2021 - Following invitation from the American Oil Chemists' Society, today Mario Pagliaro gave a seminar entitled "Biobased glycerol: the profitable platform biochemical of the chemical industry".

Introduced by Professor Dharma Kodali, University of Minnesota, the lecture lasted more than a hour and answered many questions related to glycerol, the main by-product of the biodiesel and oleochemical industries.

Which are the main chemicals and polymers produced today from glycerol? Which conventional petrochemicals are being displaced from bioglycerol-derived products? Do all productions necessarily require high purity glycerol? Who are the main players in the glycerol biorefinery industry?

This lecture answered these and related questions offering an industrially relevant perspective given by an eminently practical viewpoint.

Biobased glycerol, namely glycerol by-product of vegetable oil transesterification with methanol (to make biodiesel) and hydrolysis (to make soap and oleochemicals), is the main platform biochemical of the chemical industry. Its low cost and increasing abundance due to the booming biodiesel production started in the late 1990s led to the introduction of several new catalytic processes that enable the profitable production of numerous commodity and specialty chemicals starting from glycerol rather than from propylene.

With more than 4,000 members, the American Oil Chemists' Society is an international professional organization based in Urbana, Illinois, providing the support network for those involved with the science and technology related to the myriad of multiple fat-derived products.

To learn more

M. Pagliaro, Glycerol: The Renewable Platform Chemical, Elsevier (2017)

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