Gabriela Sandoval 00211276

NRC: 1604

July 15, 2021

The world of Glycerin, an environmental world?

"The earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's

greed" -Gandhi.

Glycerin is a biodiesel derivative present in both vegetable oils and animal fats.

For its manufacture, the main raw material is natural glycerin from different industries.

With the available raw material, glycerin refining is carried out, which is a process that

purifies certain substances. At this point, glycerin helps the environment since it is reused

from the waste produced in the production of biodiesel, but refining it produces gas

emissions that damage the ozone layer, affecting the planet in general. Glycerin is a

product with oils, organic material that can end up in the oceans or forests.

Glycerin is obtained from various raw materials as it comes from various oils, as

well as animal or vegetable fats, so you have different types of glycerin as "Vegetable

glycerin is produced by heating vegetable fats rich in triglycerides, such as palm, soybean

and coconut oils, under pressure or together with a strong alkali, such as lye." (Natalichio,

2020, p.1) with which is mostly helps the cosmetic part but you also have animal glycerin,

so I consider that both vegetable fat and animal fat used to produce glycerin incentivizes

deforestation for planting raw material or killing animals to satisfy our cosmetic needs.

The primary vegetable raw material for the refining of glycerin is the palm, its

plantation is one of the most controversial because one of the most important advantages

is that "According to a recent study, replacing rainforest with oil palm plantations releases
61% of the carbon stored in the forest, mostly into the atmosphere. Each hectare of

rainforest converted releases 174 tons of carbon"(Dialogue, 2019), which would help the

greenhouse effect to diminish considerably and increase sustainability, that is to say, it

would help the ozone layer, but at the same time it would be detrimental.

The palm plantation also has negative effects or rather disadvantages that can

harm the living being as such, as there are several of these, but in particular "The two

most pressing issues here are large-scale forest conversion and the loss of habitat

especially for species of animals that are already endangered. What's more alarming is it's

not just agricultural land but more importantly, native rainforests are being burned down

- all to provide more area for oil palm trees to grow." (Biofriendly Planet | For a Cooler

Environment, 2018) which, in my opinion, ending the life of a living being is another of

the big problems because without them the lands, forests would stop growing,

reproducing and improving the ozone layer which is the most important thing.

Then, this type of plantation affects the land considerably, having as a

consequence the most important thing that is erosion, because when the land is cut down

and burned, it is left without trees or plants, but this happens mostly in places where

tropical forests used to exist, so that without plantations there are no nutrients to cover

the soil, which causes the land to stop being fertile, making it unusable. Palm plantations

are of great help to the environment, but not having controlled planting and extraction

causes more damage than help, so it is mostly harmful.

Glycerin is a method to leave aside the pollution by hydrocarbons from

petroleum, which implies that it reduces CO2 emissions, but apart from this it has residues

that can harm or help the environment so "Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel

engines that is produced by chemically reacting a vegetable oil or animal fat with an

alcohol such as methanol or ethanol. In words, the reaction is: Oil + alcohol → biodiesel
+ glycerin" (Biodiesel Production Principles and Processes - Farm Energy, 2019) as it is

observed the biodiesel production wastes glycerin a waste which in my opinion can end

up in unwanted places since most of the factories do not know or simply do not want to

perform the reuse of this waste because of much cost so they prefer pollution.

In the refining or manufacturing process there are different types of glycerin, so

the contamination is higher because "These impurities include: salt, soap, matter organic

non glycerin (MONG), water, color pigments, odor, etc. To get a better value, glycerin

undergoes further purification processes where impurities are removed." (Mbamalu et al.,

n.d.,p.48 ) then the raw glycerin goes through an evaporator and methanol is removed, a

gas harmful to the ozone layer causing the hole in the ozone layer to be larger, then goes

to a centrifuge removing all solids that may end up in a river, sea or ocean causing the

death of animals, organic matter is removed (MONG) which may end up in forests

causing consequences in their soils, waste is removed again are not reusable ending up in

the pipes and in turn in rivers, etc., all undesirable odors are eliminated, which are gases

that contribute to the greenhouse effect, worsening it.

In conclusion, all this causes the planet to have more pollution, the acid rain is

stronger making nature weaker, the greenhouse effect continues to develop rapidly, and

global warming continues to worsen as the refining of glycerin in my opinion is important

both to avoid pollution in oceans, sea and water itself as well as to reduce gas emissions,

provided that all methods of planting raw material such as palm are controlled to avoid

causing any damage to living beings that give us life, I believe that glycerin refining is

important both to avoid pollution in oceans, sea and water itself and to reduce gas

emissions, as long as all methods of planting raw materials such as palm oil are controlled

so as not to cause any damage to the living beings that give us life, as it is a way to reduce

SOx, NOx, etc..

 There is also refining which is harmful in all aspects as observed but if you find

other more homemade methods can be more functional, because to deduce what is right

and what is wrong is a bit complicated because for environmentalists is like killing a

person but for businessmen is a way to make money regardless of what is at risk, as a

friend I believe that both planting and refining would help the planet considerably as long

as they go hand in hand.

Bibliography

Biodiesel Production Principles and Processes – Farm Energy. (2019, April 3).

Extension.org. https://farm-energy.extension.org/biodiesel-production-principles-

and-processes/

Dialogue, C. (2019, November 4). Palm oil: The pros and cons of a controversial

commodity - China Dialogue. China Dialogue.

https://chinadialogue.net/en/food/11627-palm-oil-the-pros-and-cons-of-a-

controversial-commodity/

Mbamalu, V., Jones, F., Thomas, T., & Ainsworth, A. (n.d.). GLYCERIN AND THE

MARKET.

https://scholar.utc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1474&context=theses

Natalichio, R. (2020, March 18) What is vegetable glycerin? Uses, health benefits and

side effects. EcoPortal.net; EcoPortal.

https://www.ecoportal.net/econciencia/vida-consciente/glicerina-vegetal-

beneficios/.

Posada J., Cardona C., (2010, January 12). Validation of Glycerin Refining Obtained as

a by-Product of Biodiesel Production. Ing. Univ: Colombia

 file:///C:/Users/Gabriela/Downloads/966-Article%20Text-3084-2-10-

20201017%20(1).pdf

What is the Problem with Palm Oil? Why Should We Care? - Biofriendly Planet | For a

Cooler Environment. (2018, May 23). Biofriendly Planet | for a Cooler

Environment. https://biofriendlyplanet.com/environment-issues/what-is-the-

problem-with-palm-oil-why-should-we-care/