Question

Briefly explain the manufacture of ethyl alcohol from molasses.

Answer 1

Hint: We know that ethanol is generally produced by the fermentation of grain and from the fruit which contains sugar as well as starch. The molasses to ethyl alcohol can be processed commercially in India.

Complete step by step solution
As we all know, ethanol is one of the renewable sources of energy, and it is generally dependent on fossil fuels. In the commercial industry, the ethanol can be manufactured by the process named as molasses.

Now, let us discuss this process in detail. The ethanol manufacturing process from molasses involves three-steps.
- In the first step, the dilution of molasses takes place. In this step, the enzymes and water will be added in the molasses for converting it into fermentable sugar.
- In the second step, the fermentation takes place. In this step, obtained sugar gets fermented with the help of yeast, and then this sugar is converted into ethanol and carbon dioxide.
- In the third step, the distillation and rectification take place. In this step, the cleaning of ethanol will be done, and after that in the last, the drying step takes place.

The chemical reactions which are involved in the manufacturing of ethanol are; one is dilution reaction and second is fermentation reaction both are shown below.
$
{{\rm{C}}_{{\rm{12}}}}{{\rm{H}}_{{\rm{22}}}}{{\rm{O}}_{{\rm{11}}}} + {{\rm{H}}_{\rm{2}}}{\rm{O}} \to {{\rm{C}}_{\rm{6}}}{{\rm{H}}_{{\rm{12}}}}{{\rm{O}}_{\rm{6}}} + {{\rm{C}}_{\rm{6}}}{{\rm{H}}_{{\rm{12}}}}{{\rm{O}}_{\rm{6}}}\\
{{\rm{C}}_{\rm{6}}}{{\rm{H}}_{{\rm{12}}}}{{\rm{O}}_{\rm{6}}} \to {{\rm{C}}_{\rm{2}}}{{\rm{H}}_{\rm{5}}}{\rm{OH}} + {\rm{C}}{{\rm{O}}_{\rm{2}}}
$

Note:
Ethanol is less carbon containing compound and made from the mixed carbon dioxide atoms. The ethanol is generally used for making alcoholic beverages like brandy, whisky, brandy, and gin etc. The ethanol is also used as a laboratory reagent in the chemical reaction.