Glycerin is a natural byproduct of biodiesel production, and Ramon Gonzalez and Syed Shams Yazdani have identified the metabolic processes and conditions that allow a known strain of Escherichia coli to convert glycerin into ethanol through an anaerobic fermentation process.

Gonzalez said ethanol from glycerol is 39 cents cheaper to produce than ethanol from corn, and feedstock costs per gallon were 53 cents for corn versus 30 cents for glycerol.

"The main reason for the difference in costs is that there is no preprocessing," said Gonzalez.

Some say the process could be commercialized before cellulosic ethanol because the research has been so promising.

The two Rice researchers have formed a company called Glycos Biotechnologies Inc., funded by Houston-based venture capital fund DFJ Mercury. The pilot project is expected to be complete by the beginning of 2008.

"Once we have the pilot running and working properly, (commercialization) is a matter of months," said Gonzalez.