Introduction
The glycerine purification unit is designed to process the raw glycerine coming from the upstream units in order to neutralize the residual catalyst and split the soaps formed during transesterification side reactions.
The fatty acids derived from soap splitting are sent to storage (or unit 6191 if included) as by-product of biodiesel plant while the purified glycerine is sent to downstream glycerine concentration (unit 6166C).
Advantages
The Desmet Glycerine Purification Unit is essential to maximize the removal of soaps and sodium methylate from the raw glycerine in order to be suitable for the downstream distillation process.
The purification technology allows a very easy operational management by proposing in sequence four process steps: methanol removal by flashing, soaps acidification reaction, olein separation and glycerine neutralization.