A thick, gooey tide of glycerin is overwhelming the fledgling biofuels industry, but an innovation from Rice University may offer a solution. Though high-grade glycerin is used to make products like soaps, cosmetics, foods, and pharmaceuticals, vast quantities of crude glycerin are simply disposed as waste in the biofuel recovery process. Rice researchers have developed glycerin-gobbling microorganisms that are being commercialized by Houston, TX-based Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc. The hungry bugs are at the heart of an energy-efficient bioconversion process that turns waste glycerin into fuels and other products.
The big problem with crude glycerin waste is that the cost of disposal eats away at the profitability of biofuel operations. GlycosBio’s approach is to integrate bioconversion into individual refinery operations. Instead of a liability, the waste glycerin can be made into a profit center, yielding high-value chemicals that can be used to make fabrics, insulation, and food products as well as additional fuels. GlycosBio designed its operations to integrate with existing refinery processes, which makes implementation relatively easy. In addition to crude glycerin, the conversion process can work on a variety of biofuel feedstocks — perhaps including algae.
Source: CleanTechnica