Saudi researchers see glycerol waste promoting cleaner burning engines

In Saudi Arabia, a compound made from the glycerol by-product of biodiesel production could promote cleaner burning in vehicle engines.

The potential of glycerol waste from biodiesel production to be simply converted into a clean-burning sustainable fuel is being explored by scientists at KAUST’s Clean Combustion Research Center.

The researchers used computational analysis to explore the effect of differing pressures and temperatures on the combustion reactions. This allowed them to identify conditions in which glycerol carbonate will burn cleanly, while also generating the compound 3-hydroxypropanal, which is known to greatly reduce the production of soot.