Epicerol® process

The new applications are to be found outside the traditional commercial applications of glycerol in food additives, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and personal care products and also various industrial applications, such as the synthesis of polyethers, polyols and alkyd resins, detergents, explosives, etc. [85]. The use of low-quality glycerol from biodiesel production for these applications is often avoided, however. Additional fields of applications as a C3 building block have been widely investigated and in a few cases even commercialized, e.g. the production of epichlorohydrin via the EPICEROL process of Solvay Chemicals. 

Epicerol A process for making epichlorhydrin from glycerol. Treatment with hydrogen chloride and a catalyst yields mixed dichloropropanols, which are hydrolyzed by aqueous alkali to epichlorhydrin. Developed by Solvay from 2005. A commercial plant was planned to be built in Tavaux, France, for completion in 2007. 

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