http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/articles/70062/tenn-professor-philip-ye-receives-award-for-glycerin-research
[Perhaps, someday, biodiesel homebrewers will be able to use their
glycerin byproduct for something other than compost.]
Tenn. professor 'Philip' Ye receives award for glycerin research
By The American Cleaning Institute | May 07, 2014
Research aimed at finding ways to overcome roadblocks to industrial
production of value-added chemicals from glycerin is being honored with
the 2014 Glycerine Innovation Award.
The yearly honor is sponsored by the American Cleaning Institute and the
National Biodiesel Board and is presented at the Annual Meeting of the
American Oil Chemists’ Society.
The 2014 honoree is Xiaofei “Philip” Ye, associate professor at the
University of Tennessee's Department of Biosystems Engineering & Soil
Science. The ACI/NBB Glycerine Innovation Award recognizes outstanding
achievement for research into new applications for glycerin, with
particular emphasis on commercial viability.
Ye undertook his research in response to the rapid growth of the
biodiesel industry worldwide resulting in the production of large
amounts of glycerin, creating an urgent need to quickly and effectively
convert crude glycerin into value-added chemical products.
Three major commodity chemicals that can be derived from
glycerin—acrylic acid, lactic acid, and propylene glycol—have attracted
extensive research worldwide in recent years. These chemicals serve as
building blocks for plastics and polymers that are environmentally
friendly, with wide applications in superabsorbent polymers, textile
treating agents, adhesives, thermosetting resin and synthetic fibers.
However, there are still “bottleneck problems” hindering the industrial
production of these chemicals from glycerin.
“These bottleneck problems are the use of crude glycerin instead of
purified glycerin as feedstock, the catalyst deactivation in the
conversion of glycerin, and energy and hydrogen efficiency in the
conversion of glycerin,” said Ye. “My research focuses on innovative
technology development to overcome these bottleneck problems. In
addition, I also conducted engineering modeling and economic analysis
that justify and promote the use of innovative technologies for the
commercial production of value-added chemicals from glycerin.”
Ye’s recent research in this area has been published in such journals as
the Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, ChemSusChem,
Biofuels, Fuel Processing Technology, and Catalysis Letters.
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