Characterization for Cleaner and Sustainable Production of Glycerol from Tallow Under Aqueous Media at High Pressure and Temperature

Tallow fat is used in pharmaceuticals and also as raw material for the synthesis of glycerine which is used in oleo-chemical industries. In this study, steam-hydrolysis of animal tallow has been carried out to obtain glycerol by high pressure, temperature hydrolysis method without catalyst. The effect of process parameters such as feed ratio and temperature on the production of glycerol by hydrolysis has been studied. The beef tallow has been characterized by TGA for thermal stability where it shows slight decomposition in three stages: 59 °C, 187 °C, and 293 °C leaving 80.96% residue. H1 NMR profile shows doublet-of-doublets arising from two methylene groups and a multiplet for the CH-proton. 13C-NMR of the product demonstrated signals at 62.58 and 72.11 ppm, indicating the presence of the aliphatic carbon in the 1°- and 2°-alcohol of the final product glycerol. The 1:4 blend of (water to tallow) under 256 °C and 60 bar pressure has been recorded as an optimal operating condition (non-catalytic) to yield a degree of hydrolysis of 98.4%. The degree FTIR analysis shows a peak at 3300 cm−1 due to the presence of water and glycerol which in turn indicates the presence of glycerol.