Hydrochlorination of glycerol into valuable epichlorohydrins

Glycerol is a cheap, popular raw material because huge stoichiometric amounts of it appear as co-product in the production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) through transesterification of triglycerides. Hydrochlorination of glycerol with HCl in the presence of a homogeneous acid catalyst can yield eventually a valuable product epichlorohydrin.

Hydrochlorination of liquid-phase glycerol with gaseous hydrogen chloride is carried with different reactor technologies to reveal the reaction kinetics of glycerol hydrochlorination, since it is still a matter of debate and controversial information appears in the literature.