Glycerine (or glycerol) is a by-product from the production of biodiesel from oils.  Although, it can be a valuable raw material for the production of other useful products, there is a problem of managing excess amounts of glycerol that is generated from biodiesel production plants. About one pound of glycerine is estimated to be generated for every ten pounds of biodiesel produced.  Recently, scientists from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University (United States) have “identified the metabolic processes and conditions that allow a known strain of E. coli to convert glycerine into ethanol”.  Assistant Professor Ramon Gonzalez, who heads the research team, says that the operational costs process is estimated to be 40% less than corn ethanol.  The research team’s review article on the anaerobic fermentation of ethanol as a viable pathway for the biofuels industry, is published in the journal, Current Opinion in Biotechnology (URL is listed above)..