The chemical breakdown of glycerol or glycerol-containing compounds through hydrolysis or other reactions.
Formed from glycerol (from Greek glykys 'sweet' + Latin oleum 'oil') plus -lysis (Greek lysis 'breaking'). First used in chemical literature in the 1800s to describe fat-splitting reactions.
When oil companies process vegetable oils or animal fats industrially, they often use glycerolysis to separate out the glycerol backbone—which then gets used in everything from cosmetics to explosives (glycerin is a key ingredient in nitroglycerin).
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.