Afton Alber at work in the Hastings Laboratory.
New testing capabilities
Servi-Tech Laboratories now tests glycerin
By Robin Cox
Key Feed Accounts Specialist
Forward thinking Servi-Tech
strives to keep abreast of our
customers’ testing needs and
continually adds ways to meet
them.
Verifying glycerin purity and
methanol contamination were
identified as beneficial analyses to
assess byproducts from biodiesel
creation for inclusion in cattle diets.
Biodiesel production has, and
will continue to increase, as the
United States works to reduce
its dependence on foreign oil.
Biodiesel has been shown to burn
cleaner and more efficiently as
compared to petroleum-based
diesel. Blending it into the nation’s
fuel supply will reduce emission of
unburned hydrocarbons, carbon
monoxide and carbon dioxide.
The Cover Crop Summer 2018
10
During biodiesel creation,
vegetable oils (from soybeans,
cottonseed, and/or canola),
animal fats such as tallow, or a
combination of both, are processed
separating fatty acids from glycerin,
also called glycerol. The fatty acids
are the portion that is used for fuel.
Servi-Tech now has the capability
to use High Performance Liquid
Chromatography (HPLC)
instrumentation to accurately