The 2017 Glycerine Innovation Award was presented this week to Prof. Dr. Christophe Len with the Université de Technologie Compiègne France. The annual honor is sponsored by the American Cleaning Institute® (ACI) and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and is presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS). It recognizes outstanding achievement for research into new applications for glycerine, with particular emphasis on commercial viability.
Prof. Dr. Len developed his research in the context of the increased production of biodiesel worldwide. In order to make biodiesel production more economically viable and valuable, the conversion of the crude glycerine by-product to value-added commodities was studied.
“Crude glycerol, available at low cost compared with pure glycerol, has purity of 15-80 percent and contains a large amount of contaminants. These impurities, in this renewable carbon source, create certain challenges for the conversion process,” said Prof. Dr. Len.