InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – Glycerin is the side product from basic oleochemical industries that produce fatty acid, fatty alcohol, and biodiesel. Oleochemical process would have glycerin for about 10% and could be having further process to be propylene glycol (PG).
Oleochemical industries could potentially develop PG as the progress to get better downstream industrial development. Every increasing capacity in oleochemical industries hardly escalates crude glycerin production.
The abundant production of glycerin as the euphoria of biodiesel production some time ago became the big issues to sell glycerin for being oversupply and impacted to get cheaper selling product.
Substituting glycerin to be PG is the solution to the abundant production. In addition, PG markets are always twice more than glycerin needs in every year. PG is good market for antifreeze – as the alternative to substitute ethylene glycol (EG). PG is 1,2-propanediol and it is generally and easily synthetized than 1,3propanediol.
Not like EG, PG is not toxic when being digested. Antifreeze markets like to apply PG for it derived from vegetable oil glycerin. It is more sustainable and not toxic. The issue that always comes up is that the high glycerin supply in the markets. This lead to get it cheaper and becomes a loss for many producers. That is why substituting glycerin to be PC is the main reason as the alternative that could increase bigger values.
It is not too much to say that National Biodiesel Board (NBB) in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America always takes advantages glycerin as the material to produce PG. NBB mentioned, processing glycerin to be PG can be using low temperature and pressure.
The goal is to get PG by having high selection. If the process to get PG is in low temperature and pressure, it would spend less. In the official patent literature, it is always mentioned that the process to get satisfied product, the pressure should be about 2.000 - pound force per square inch (psig) or more. But using glycerin, it uses less than 200 psig.
PG is massively applied for many products, such as, to produce unsaturated polyester resins (UPRs), antifreeze fluids, food industry coolants, non-ionic detergents, plasticiser, and hydraulic brake fluids. (T1)
