PART 15 - HOW IS ETHANOL MADE? Ethanol has been made since ancient times by the fermentation of sugars.

All beverage ethanol, the largest part of fuel ethanol and more than half of industrial ethanol is still made by this process. The process of ethanol production consists of two distinct steps: fermentation and distillation. Simple sugars form the basic raw material for fermentation. However, simple sugars are not always readily available in all agricultural feedstocks from which ethanol is produced. Therefore, some of the raw materials have to be prepared for fermentation in a specific way. For example, starchy materials must be processed to convert the starch into sugars that are fermentable by distillery yeast. The two best known and most widely used processes for starchy materials are wet milling and dry milling which are dominating US ethanol production. However, as this article is primarily aimed at the sugar trade, the role of molasses as a raw material must be considered of greater interest. Molasses is a by-product of the sugar industry. Usually, the first step in sugar production is to crush sugar cane or to slice sugar beet. The juice thus obtained is heated, clarified by the addition of lime and by filtration, and then evaporated to concentrate the sugar and then start the process of crystallisation. The syrup containing the sugar crystals is then centrifuged to separate the crystals, and the resulting syrup residue is referred to as 'A' molasses. In order to recover more sugar crystals the process of evaporation and centrifuging can be repeated up to a point where it becomes uneconomical. Sugar producers normally practice a maximum of three evaporations and centrifugings depending on market economics. The effluent of the last centrifuging is called 'final molasses' and may be used for the production of ethanol. The difference between molasses and most other feedstocks for ethanol production is the fact that its 50 per cent sugar content may be fermented directly. During fermentation, yeasts convert sugars such as sucrose or glucose to ethanol. Some sugar is diverted to products other than ethanol, such as yeast cell biomass, glycerol and succinic acid. This leads to a decrease in ethanol yield: a more realistic theoretical yield would be 95 per cent, and a good practical yield 90 per cent, of the figure indicated in the equation. The ethanol produced by fermentation ranges in concentration from a few per cent up to about 14 per cent. Moreover, lesser quantities of higher alcohols, esters, aldehydes, etc. are produced. Above about 14 per cent, fermentation stops. Ethanol is normally concentrated by distillation of hydrous solutions, which means that the alcohol is separated from the water by evaporation. For purer grades of ethanol a more efficient separation of the alcohol is necessary and stills are used employing rectification, a process whereby the ethanol is purified by successive partial evaporation and condensation. The still is constructed as a column or series of columns, each being divided into sections by a number of perforated plates which produce an intimate mixing of the liquid passing down the column with vapour passing up. The process of distillations renders a product which might contain up to 95.6 per cent of ethanol while the rest is mostly water. This type of ethanol is called hydrous alcohol. To produce absolute (water-free, anhydrous) ethanol from rectified alcohol two further columns are required: The dehydration column where the residual water is removed by using a so-called entrainer such as cyclohexane, benzene, or pentane. The ethanol and entrainer-recovery column.

Through the addition of the entrainer the alcohol in question turned into denatured alcohol as a result of which it becomes unfit for human consumption. For the production of beverages or foods non-denatured alcohol is used. There are some systems in use for the production of very pure anhydrous alcohol for food and pharmaceutical uses. These systems yield ethanol with an alcohol content of 99.98 per cent and very little impurities. World ethanol production: a regional analysis World ethanol production (all categories, fuel, industrial and beverage) reached an estimated 31.2 bln litres in 1998, down from the previous year's 33.4 bln. The downturn was mainly due to the developments in Brazil, the world's largest producer (see below). The Asian financial crisis also contributed to the lower figure. Total output in the Americas in 1998 reached 20.3 bln litres, followed by Asia (5.5 bln), Europe (4.7 bln), Africa (0.5 bln) and Oceania (0.2 bln). Woodhead Publishing Ltd The Sugar Trading Manual Chapter 6 World Ethanol Production and Trade Dr. Christoph Berg (F.O. Licht)