Glycerine is like old wine in a new bottle:ever present, ever getting better, and more varied in its applications.

Glycerine was discovered more than two centuries ago by the Swedish chemist Scheele (1742- 1786) when he heated a mixture of litharge (lead oxide) and olive oil. He extracted and isolated a sweet tasting liquid which he named “sweet oil” (Oelsuess) .

The French chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul (1786- 1889), the father of the chemistry of fats and oil, established the structure of fats as triesters made up of three moles of mixed fatty acids and one mole of “sweet oil,” which he renamed “glycerine” after the Greek word for “sweet.”

Glycerine (or glycerin) is also referred to in many texts as “glycerol.” Chemically it is a tribasic alcohol and more correctly named I ,2,3-propanetriol. Glycerin is a versatile compound that can come in both refined and crude form.

Refined USP-grade glycerin can be used in many personal care, excipients, food, home care and industrial applications. USP glycerin offers moisturizing, emulsifying, and sweetening functionalities: it can be used to increase formulations’ density, viscosity and freezing point in a wide variety of applications.

Glycerine is a versatile chemical.

A colorless, viscous liquid, and stable under most conditions, glycerine is nontoxic, easily digested, and is environmentally safe. It has a pleasant taste and odor, which makes it an ideal ingredient in food and cosmetic applications.

Glycerine’s role in cosmetics is diverse, ranging from moisturizer, emollient, viscosity modifier, solubilizer, humectant, foam booster, and occasionally just as a ” magic ingredient.”

The listings below are not intended to be all inclusive; but to illustrate the broad spectrum of products and industries that use glycerin or glycerine-related materials.