How ethanol is made

Josh Karaus, Quality Manager at the ethanol production facility POET Biorefining - Glenville East, gives a brief explanation of how ethanol is made in an interview with MinnPost.com. For more information on how POET, the largest producer of biofuels in the world, produces ethanol, go to http://www.poet.com/about/process.asp

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• POET
• ethanol
• Glenville
• Minnesota
• biofuels

[asimov13647]

The last time I was in a chemistry class I was told it impossible to produce totally anhydrous ethanol. What development has transpired that allows the total dehydration of ethanol?

[poettv]

@asimov13647 Thanks for the question! We get the ethanol to about 190 proof through distillation, then use a molecular sieve to removing the remaining water.

[polos505]

haaaa you need a gallon of gasoline to produce 1/2 ga ethanol. good idea mt friend.

[poettv]

@polos505 There is almost no gasoline used to produce ethanol. The primary energy is natural gas to run the plants and a little diesel for the tractors/trucks/etc. A recent USDA study confirmed that for every one BTU of energy you put in, you get 2.3-2.8 out.

[vmelkon]

200 proof means 100%?

[poettv]

@vmelkon Yes. That means that you removed all the water and have not yet added any denaturant.

[Rototill27]

Enzymes aren't microoorganisms, they are biomolecules. The yeast cells use enzymes to convert sugars to the alcohol product using their own enzyme catalyzed pathway called fermentation. Ethanol and water are the toxic biproducts of this bioprocess. Ethanol can then be separated from water by simple distillation.

[144pieces]

Ethenol Really Sucks!

[Itsmeeman1]

Anhydrous doesn't mean dry! It means there's no water(H2O) in it. See the difference?

Ethanol isn't dry, it's a wet liquid! He makes me laugh. Hick!

Cannabis Hemp makes more ethanol than corn per acre so he's using the wrong plant!

[miniimoto95]

@polos505 farm machinery and trucks run on diesel.... where is this gallon of gas going?

[akinorhan5]

just let me say sugar yeast water wait 1 week still at 80 celcius cool the steam transfers in liquid and you got it ethanol :) im 14 years old and im making ethanol for my rc car and for my steam engine that generates electricity im saying that for news makes they work easy.

[mrXnando]

@polos505 you're right! here in Brazil we spend 300 liters of diesel to produce 7000 liters of ethanol derived from sugar cane to produce ethanol with corn is impractical, with only 100m ² of sugarcane, it produces about 80 liters of ethanol, to do this with corn, it takes more than 200m ², furthermore the consumption of gasoline or diesel fuel in corn production is very high, large trucks, large tractors and harvesters consume much diesel yes!

[Rototill27]

@asimov13647

It's seemingly impossible to produce totally anhydrous ethanol because it is completely soluble in water. The interactions between ethanol and water is termed "hydrogen bonding". It's the same type of bonding that occurs between the base pairs in your DNA. It's a very strong electronic bond. Usually, another agent like magnesium sulphate is needed to get rid of the water. More practically, they use azeotropic distillation in industry to get rid of H20 in ethanol.

[EMOjamesy23]

@Rototill27 thanks for pointing that out and saving me the trouble :L

[TripleX2go]

Where can you buy enzyme?