Chapter 4: Secondary Processing of Plant Oils

Glycerol has an important role to play in advanced oil crop biorefineries. Initially the chapter outlines processes which could be used to purify glycerol that emerges as a by-product from biodisel production. Glycerol in a clean form is in fact a highly valuable chemical and if such purification processes could be optimised, this approach could be a lucrative add-on for many biodisel manufacturers. However in order to conduct any chemical derivitisation, this purification process is a must anyway. There is a vast range of high value chemicals which can be produced and the chapter outlines key processes and products. Interestingly the novel concept of manufacturing biodiesel without any glycerol by-product is also discussed as an ultimate green process.