SBIR Phase II: Conversion of Biodiesel Glycerol to Xylitol Co-Product

SBIR二期项目将开发一种方法，将副产品甘油转化为增值副产品木糖醇，从而帮助降低生物柴油生产的相关成本。 预期的结果是一个可扩展的过程，能够在一个单一的步骤生物反应器过程中将粗甘油转化为木糖醇，并证明了回收增值产品的方法。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是进一步生物柴油作为石化柴油的替代品。 将生物柴油生产的主要副产品甘油转化为增值产品将提高生物柴油的经济效益，同时消除废物流并降低副产品的价格。 木糖醇本身也具有有益的社会影响，包括作为糖尿病患者的安全甜味剂的抗癌作用，并且它不会像某些甜味剂那样促进新的糖尿病病例。

This SBIR Phase II project will develop a method to convert the byproduct glycerol to a value-added co-product, xylitol, thereby helping to reduce the costs associated with biodiesel production. The anticipated result is a scalable process capable of converting crude glycerol to xylitol in a single step bioreactor process and a demonstrated method for recovery of the value-added product.The broader impact/commercial potential of the project will be to further biodiesel as a replacement for petrochemical diesel. Converting the main by-product of biodiesel production, glycerol, to a value-added product would improve the economics of biodiesel, while removing a waste stream and providing a reduction in price of the co-product. Xylitol itself also has beneficial societal impacts including anti-carcinogenic effects as a safe sweetener for diabetics, and it does not promote new cases of diabetes as some sweeteners are suspected of doing.