Conversion of crude glycerol into higher value chemical products

The exponential growth of biodiesel production all around the world has created a significant surplus in the production of the principle co-product, crude glycerol. Therefore, effective utilization of crude glycerol is imperative for bringing new revenue to the biodiesel producers and the sustainability of the biodiesel industry. There have been numerous papers investigating the potential applications of crude glycerol as value-added products. However, the significant variation in the chemical composition of crude glycerol due to different type of catalyst used, transesterification efficiency between producers, and impurities in the feedstock has limited the widespread of the procedures proposed by those papers. Therefore, this research project is designed to: (i) accurately determine the chemical composition of the crude glycerol produced by Invigor Bioenergy Corporation, (ii) identify the current most economical procedure to convert crude glycerol to higher value product, and (iii) bridge the gap between laboratory experiments and industry scale.

Faculty Supervisor:

Abdulmajeed Mohamad

Student:

Hsu Chew Lee

Partner:

Invigor Bioenergy Corporation

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

University:

University of Calgary

Program: