The decreasing reserves of fossil carbon and environmental problems related to their use have led to a continuously growing interest in the use of renewable feedstocks from easily grown crops such as soy bean, rape seed, and sunflower. Glycerine, also denoted as glycerol, is a co-product of primary products such as fatty acids, fatty alcohols, soap and biodiesel, all using fats and oils as feedstock. Although its production amounts to only about 10% of these primary products, glycerine is often the focus of more attention than its stoichiometry would suggest because of the price volatility of this commodity [1].Nowadays, glycerine receives particular attention as by-product from biodiesel production [2]. Extracted triglycerides can undergo transesterification with methanol (methanolysis) or (bio)ethanol (ethanolysis), yielding the corresponding methyl or ethyl esters (biodiesel) and 14% glycerol as by-product on a stoichiometric basis. With current technology 1 kg of crude glycerol by-product is obtained for every 9 kg of biodiesel produced [3]. A recent process model for continuous production of biodiesel from soybean oil containing 96% triglycerides at a rate of 100 kg h À1 , yields 10.3 kg h À1 of 80% aqueous glycerol. After the methanol recovery train, a glycerol refining section consists of an acidulation reactor to neutralize with mineral acid the base catalyst and to remove the soaps formed as well, resulting in less than 1% of free fatty acids [4]. With an estimated production capacity of biodiesel of 12 million metric tons per year in 2010, glycerol is becoming a bulk renewable feedstock [5]. Independent forecasts of global glycerol production by 2010 amount to significantly lower quantities [6]. Costs of raw glycerol of around 15 dollar cent per pound (A 26 eurocent per kg) are figures currently handled in economic models [7].Glycerol is a colorless, odorless, viscous (syrupy), nontoxic and hygroscopic liquid with a very sweet taste; its etymologic roots stem from the Greek glykys, sweet. Pure glycerol (1,2,3-propanetriol) is a trihydric alcohol with a specific gravity of 265 at 15 C. Below 0 C it solidifies to a white crystalline mass, which melts at