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Production Of Ethers Of Glycerol From Crude Glycerol - The By-Product Of Biodlesel Production, Hossein Noureddini, W R. Dailey, B A. Hunt

Papers in Biomaterials

Methyl esters of fatty acids (also known as biodiesel), made from the transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats with methanol, have shown a lot of promise as alternative diesel fuels. Glycerol is the inevitable byproduct of the trans-esterification process. While there are existing markets for glycerol, a significant increase in availability of glycerol, re-sulting from the expanded use of vegetable oils and animal fats, would destabilize the glycerol market. Direct addition of glycerol to the fuel is not possible, however, derivatives of glycerol such as ethers have potential for use as additives with biodiesel, diesel or biodiesel-diesel blends. In …