Crude Glycerine (Glycerol)

Biodiesel and oleochemical glycerol by content, MONG and ash

Crude glycerine is the co-product of every biodiesel plant and every fat-splitting column, and it is bought on four numbers: glycerol content, MONG, ash and water. Biodiesel-origin crude runs 80–88% glycerol, with 1–5% water, 3–7% ash (the sodium or potassium salt left from the catalyst) and MONG — matter organic non-glycerol, which is the soap, methanol and residual ester — of 1–5%; methanol itself is held below 0.5% for it to travel as non-hazardous. Oleochemical crude from fat splitting is cleaner, 88–92% glycerol with lower ash and no methanol, and is priced accordingly. Colour, pH (6–8) and chlorides complete the sheet. The buyer is a refiner in most cases: it takes crude through neutralisation, evaporation, distillation and bleaching to refined glycerine at 99.5% or 99.7% USP/BP/EP grade, and its yield is a direct function of the crude's glycerol content and its refining cost a function of the ash and MONG it has to strip. That is why a 5-point difference in glycerol content or a 3-point difference in ash moves the price by more than the arithmetic suggests. Technical users — animal feed as an energy source, epichlorohydrin plants, antifreeze, dust suppression — buy crude or semi-refined and are looser on the sheet. UN Comtrade 2025 export declarations under HS 1520 put Indonesia at 0.91 million MT at an average USD 543/MT, Brazil at 0.68 million MT at USD 498/MT, Malaysia at 0.13 million MT at USD 538/MT and Canada at 0.05 million MT across 11 reporting origins. Indonesia's own 2025 destination list is concentrated: China 664k MT at USD 535/MT (73% of the book), India 107k MT at USD 566, Malaysia 83k MT and the Netherlands 34k MT at USD 577, with Chinese epichlorohydrin capacity being the demand pull behind the first line.

Glycerine has two prices, crude and refined, and the spread between them is the refining margin the buyer keeps if it has its own column. Crude tracks biodiesel output (more biodiesel, more glycerine, lower price) and Chinese epichlorohydrin demand; refined tracks pharma and personal-care demand and moves more slowly. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers crude glycerine from Indonesian, Malaysian, Brazilian and Argentine biodiesel and oleochemical plants, and refined USP/BP grade from the same origins, against SGS or Intertek certification of glycerol content, MONG, ash, water, methanol, chlorides, pH and colour, with kosher, halal and RSPO declarations where the end use calls for them. Parcels move as liquid bulk in 1,000–5,000 MT chemical-tanker parcels, in flexitanks (20–24 MT per container) and in ISO tanks, and refined grade also in 250 kg drums and IBCs, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms; because CBIL also runs a chartering desk (LaycanDesk) that works product and chemical tankers, the freight leg is quoted with the cargo. Send your glycerol floor, your ash and MONG ceilings and whether the feed is biodiesel or oleochemical origin, and we will work the offer to it.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices chemical and vegetable oil tanker chartering on LaycanDesk.