ABSTRACT
Synthetic glycerol is defined as the product manufactured from petrochemical raw materials such as propylene, allyl chloride, epichlorhydrin, glycerol chlorohydrins, acrolein, or allyl alcohol. Essentially, very little natural glycerol was obtained from fat methanolysis processing, and practically none from soapstocks. The period 1980–1988 appears to be one in which natural glycerol dominated; the years 1963–1969 (54–58%) typify those in which synthetic glycerol production was prominent. Purification depended somewhat on the market for the products, the water content of the glycerol was minimized by distillation and evaporation. If the glycerol required a high purity, a series of distillations was used typical of synthetic or natural glycerol production. Atlas' US patent describes a glucose to glycerol conversion which essentially was the basis for the defunct Delaware operation. Atlas also describes a tungsten oxide-promoted nickel catalyst for use with polysaccharides such as sugar for the production of polyols.
