Source: Bureau of the Census, U. S. Department of Commerce.
Crude glycerin is produced by about 200 soap makers and by about 12 producers of fatty acids. Soap factories are located in more than half the States, the principal ones being in Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, California, and Pennsylvania; the fatty acid plants are located in five or six States, Ohio being of chief importance. Most of the smaller producers sell their output of crude glycerin. Refiners of glycerin are few in number compared to the producers of crude. The larger soap plants refine their own crude glycerin and in addition purchase crude from other plants for refining.
The process of recovering glycerin consists of chemically treating weak glycerin solutions separated from the soap or fatty acids, and then concentrating and distilling under reduced pressures. The average yield is less than 10 percent but varies from about 9 to 12 percent, depending upon the kinds of oils and fats used. When prices are high every effort is made to recover the maximum yield of glycerin; when prices are low, cost of chemical treatment and distillation makes it advisable to allow more glycerin to remain in the soap or to discard the weak solutions.
Production in other countries.
As in the United States, glycerin is produced in foreign countries, as a byproduct of the soap and fatty acid industries. The United Kingdom, Germany, and France, and recently the Soviet Union, are the leading producers. The output in each of these countries is estimated to be less than a third of the output in the United States. The British Census of 1930 reports the production of crude glycerin in the United Kingdom at 44 million pounds. Authentic statistics on production in other leading countries are not available, but most estimates show lower figures than for the United Kingdom. In some European countries the normal production of soap results in more glycerin than can be utilized.
International trade.
France is the principal net exporter of crude glycerin and the United Kingdom of refined glycerin. The Netherlands, Germany, and France are also net exporters of refined glycerin. The international trade of certain of the more important producing countries in crude and refined glycerin is shown in table [50].
Table 50.—Glycerin: Imports and exports of principal countries, 1931 and 1933-37
| [In thousands of pounds] | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 19374 | |||||||
| Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | |
| Crude: | ||||||||||||
| UNITED STATES1 | 8,782 | (2) | 4,988 | (3) | 13,722 | (3) | 4,092 | (2) | 8,686 | (2) | 10,171 | (2) |
| United Kingdom | 1,702 | 2,662 | 4,778 | 2,951 | 472 | 2,825 | 1,119 | 2,365 | 2,322 | 3,070 | (2) | (3) |
| Germany | 4,120 | 2,313 | 5,232 | 2,939 | 4,746 | 1,599 | 4,091 | 326 | 8,247 | 122 | 13,567 | 578 |
| France | 1,269 | 7,962 | 426 | 3,488 | (2) | 862 | (2) | 1,176 | (2) | 164 | (2) | |
| Netherlands | 5,133 | 859 | 3,027 | 2,300 | 2,605 | 3,796 | 5,441 | 4,912 | 7,185 | 5,644 | 9,127 | 6,865 |
| Refined: | ||||||||||||
| UNITED STATES | 1,966 | 328 | 2,776 | (3) | 2,214 | (3) | 69 | 3,354 | 3,448 | 1,146 | 7,535 | 1,375 |
| United Kingdom | 2,519 | 9,926 | 822 | 19,834 | 230 | 19,134 | 2 | 15,032 | 12,991 | (3) | 16,029 | |
| Germany | 102 | 10,092 | 57 | 3,562 | 224 | 3,818 | 108 | 1,571 | 30 | 1,155 | 71 | 100 |
| France | 178 | 3,989 | 109 | 1,246 | 51 | 12,249 | 4 | 12,118 | 10 | 9,269 | 9 | 17,750 |
| Netherlands | 618 | 8,337 | 1,144 | 6,620 | 1,008 | 5,955 | 694 | 5,516 | 739 | 8,885 | 500 | 10,961 |
| Belgium | 534 | 758 | 1,193 | 429 | 1,206 | 2,360 | 998 | 1,945 | 188 | 1,981 | 651 | 1,858 |
1 Imports from Cuba and the Philippines not included in the United States statistics. These imports, consisting of crude glycerin, averaged about 2,200,000 pounds annually for the period 1931-37.