Glycerol Bioreactor

At present we are exploring a fermentation process that will take glycerol directly to 1,3-propanediol. Propylene glycol can be comprised of either 1,2-propanediol or 1,3-propanediol. The latter of these two compounds has a higher value as a merchant product due to its use in the manufacture of polyesters and resins. The production of 1,3-propanediol through the hydrogenolysis of sorbitol cannot be done in a controlled manner by catalytic processes. However, one of the primary byproducts of those reactions is glycerol. As it turns out the bacterium clostridium butyricum is capable of fermenting glycerol directly to 1,3-propanediol with relatively high selectivity.

The implications of the fermentation process, as it pertains to our project, is that most of the glycerol byproduct can be further reacted to produce the highly valuable 1,3-propanediol.