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Home > Glycerin in the Sustainability of Polyacrylonitrile Production
Glycerin or glycerol, chemically 1,2,3-propanotriol, is a very valuable input in the production of a totally sustainable “Green Polyacrylonitrile”, whether for the production of acrylic fibers or carbon fiber, since it can undergo dehydration and ammoxidation in adequate conditions to produce acrylonitrile.
In addition, it can be used as a Polyacrylonitrile plasticizer in thermoplastic fiber production processes and other types of products obtained by extrusion or injection.
What makes glycerin attractive for the Polyacrylonitrile sustainability chain is its low-cost availability due to the growing production of Biodiesel in the world.
Glycerin is a by-product formed in the proportion of 10% during the production of biodiesel, through the transesterification process that uses vegetable oil and methanol. The growth of its production is directly proportional to the increase in world demand for biodiesel, which has occurred to replace fossil fuels. Beginning in the 1990s, biodiesel has been identified as a viable alternative for environmental, economic, and strategic reasons to guarantee countries independence from fossil fuels, mainly from oil that should end in a few years.
The biodiesel market in Brazil was 5.9 million m³/year in 2019, which is equivalent to a surplus in the market of 590 thousand m³/year of glycerin, since all the glycerin consumed in the country for applications in the cosmetics industry, food and pharmaceuticals - around 20 thousand tons per year - is derived from saponification processes that do not use methanol but sodium hydroxide. Worldwide production was 23.1 million m³/year, generating a glycerin production of more than 2 million m³.
Brazil is a major exporter of glycerin, having exported in 2019 around 303,900 tons of crude glycerin which has an average content of 80% purity. The average price paid for this crude glycerin was approximately US $ 150/ton in the period 2019-2020. The main buyer market was Asia, mainly China.
Most of Brazil's crude glycerin comes from soybean oil (70%), another part coming from animal fat and cottonseed oil. A small proportion of other oils are also used in Brazil's biodiesel matrix such as: palm oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, castor oil, sesame oil, canola oil, corn oil and frying oil.
