KOREAN TEAM EXTRACTS USEFUL CHEMICALS FROM BIODIESEL BY-PRODUCTS

TradingMarkets.com
Wed. January 07, 2009; Posted: 04:02 AM

SEOUL, Jan 07, 2009 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- South Korean scientists have developed a high-tech process to extract commercially viable chemical compounds from a biodiesel by-product that can help cut costs of making the synthetic fuel, the government said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said researchers from local universities, the state-run Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology and GS Caltex Corp. have successfully made glycerol carbonate (GC) and 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) from glycerol.
"Using a special catalyst to make the chemicals, scientists have found a way to effectively reduce biodiesel production costs by 15 percent," a government official said. He said production cost can be lowered as manufacturers will be able to sell the by-product chemicals on the market.

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