| MANUFACTURING |
New route to glycerin planned by ethanol firm
Michael McCoy
Glycerin, a high-volume chemical used in myriad personal care and industrial applications, has long been made via two distinct manufacturing routes. Now, yet another production method is about to go commercial. Co. that calls itself the seventh largest U.S. producer of ethanol, plans to enter the glycerin business by recovering and purifying glycerin it already produces during ethanol fermentation. If Co. is successful in scaling up its process, so far demonstrated only in a pilot plant, it will enter a U.S. market dominated by several large and established glycerin producers. They include companies such as Procter & Gamble, which obtains glycerin as a by-product of hydrolyzing fats and oils into fatty acids, methyl esters, and soap; and Dow Chemical, which makes glycerin synthetically from epichlorohydrin. Co.`s idea is simple enough. According to CONTACT glycerin is produced in all facilities that ferment glucose into ethanol. Glycerin yields are roughly half a pound for every gallon of ethanol produced. In such plants today, ethanol is recovered by distillation, while the remaining glycerin-rich stillage is dried to yield an animal feed known as distiller's grain. License for raising yields of glycerin and isolating it with techniques such as filtration and chromatographic separation. Co. will install glycerin recovery equipment at its 18 million-gal-per-year ethanol plant in Colwich, Kan., one of three that it operates. Following a planned summer ground breaking, he says the company could be onstream with 96% glycerin in as few as six months. Output could be upgraded to food and pharmaceutical standards by conventional methods. For Co. adding glycerin would realize a product diversification effort started in its 1998 fiscal year, when it lost $3.6 million on sales—mostly in ethanol—of $84.9 million. The company turned a profit the following year, but it is still keen on reducing its dependence on fuel ethanol, a cyclical product that relies on a government subsidy to survive. For Co. producing glycerin would also realize a goal, long sought independently by both men, of increasing the productivity of fermentation ethanol plants. CONTACT adds that Co. has expansion ideas of its own, including using the new separation equipment to prepare glucose broths for nonyeast fermentation of, for example, lactic acid or citric acid. For the time being, however, he says the company's goal is to enter the glycerin market successfully and with as few waves as possible.
He's well aware that in 1997 agroproducts giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) announced plans to make glycerin at a 50 million-lb plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Nothing happened, and although ADM won't say why, observers speculate that ADM's technology didn't live up to expectations or that the firm balked at starting a big plant when glycerin prices were falling.
Indeed, an executive with P&G's chemical division points outs that glycerin is a notoriously cyclical product because production is not dictated by supply but by demand for fatty acids. Although glycerin prices are currently on the rise, they can swing between 40 cents and $1.00 per lb. Co is confident that will be able to make money anywhere within glycerin's historic price range. Also, the company is adhering to a strategy of easing into new markets by not supplying more than 10% of demand. With potential output in the 10 million- to 18 million-lb-per-year range, the Co.`s plant will account for less than 5% of U.S. glycerin supply.
Out of the same desire to minimize market disruption and avoid precipitating price erosion, Co. plans to enlist an existing glycerin distributor with established supply channels. "Our goal is to have a real small impact on the market,"
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