The U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention today announced a revised Glycerin monograph in the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), an official compendium of the United States. The revision strengthens safety nets to prevent serious and potentially fatal health hazards associated with diethylene glycol-contaminated glycerin.

With U.S. biodiesel production at an all-time high and a record number of new biodiesel plants under construction, the industry is facing an impending crisis over waste glycerin, the major byproduct of biodiesel production. New findings from Rice University suggest a possible answer in the form of a bacterium that ferments glycerin and produces ethanol, another popular biofuel.

Biodiesel is in high demand. The byproduct of this alternative source of energy, glycerin, is next, according to an agriculture scientist at the University of Missouri-Columbia.