2 replies to this topic

[vyse]

Hello, I'm an IB student doing IA for chem/phys do you know any sites that talks about the sugar/glucose impurities after the distillation of ethanol fuels more specifically the bioethanol that uses sugarcanes to produce? I really need references to my current research and I've yet to find any that's from a reliable source. Please help. 

[katmar]

It is unlikely that impurities in the sugar or glucose will be sufficiently volatile to be carried over with the ethanol in the distillation. An exception might be methanol that is created by wild yeasts or bacteria before the fermentation stage. This happens if sugarcane is stored for a while after harvesting and before it is processed.

 

The impurities that will exist in the distilled product are those volatiles that are created as side products during the fermentation. They include a whole range of alcohols, aldehydes and esters. They go under the classification of "congeners" or "fusel oils" and if you search for these rather than searching for impurities you are more likely to find relevant information.

[Pilesar]

Bioethanol and every other commercial product will be produced and sold according to specifications. These specs may be standardized such as ASTM D4806 used for ethanol mixing with gasoline. Bioethanol will have some impurities. Additional process unit ops would be added to remove trace impurities if economic analysis concludes it would be economically advantageous. I suggest you research the sellers of bioethanol and review their product descriptions to see the sales specs.