INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL

INTRODUCTION
Industrial alcohol is ethanol which is also called as ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain
alcohol, or drinking alcohol. Ethanol is a volatile, flammable, colourless liquid. The
intoxicating effects of ethanol consumption have been known since ancient times. It is
also used in thermometers, as a solvent, and as a fuel. In common usage, it is often
referred to simply as alcohol or spirits.

Ethanol is synthesized by the fermentation of sugar which is one of the oldest

biotechnologies employed by humans. Although distillation was well known by the early
Greeks and Arabs, School of Salerno alchemist’s first synthesized alcohol from distilled
wine in the 12th century. In 1796, Raymond Lull and Johann Tobias Lowitz mentioned the
distillation of industrial alcohol to absolute alcohol with an excess of anhydrous alkali and
then distilling the mixture over low heat. Antoine Lavoisier described ethanol as a
compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The chemical formula was determined by
Nicolas-Théodore de Saussurein 1807, which was later published by Archibald Scott
Couper.
MANUFACTURE
Industrial alcohol was an outgrowth of alcoholic beverages. Now a days it is economically
useful as a solvent and for synthesis of other chemicals.

1. By malt fermentation
Raw material
Corn
Water
Manufacture process
http://nptel.ac.in/courses/103106109/SWF%20files/Industrial%20alcohol%20by%20malt
%20fermentation.swf
Manufacturing Sequence of industrial alcohol by fermentation is as follows
Transplantation of corn or molasses to the plant

Storage of corn or molasses

Grinding of corn

Hydrolysis by beating of cornmeal with acid to make mash

Growth of culture

Fermentation of diluted inverted molasses or of corn mash

Distillation of alcohol from beer

Rectification and purification of alcohol

Recovery of by-product, e.g. CO2, feed, potash salts

The various operations involved in changing corn to alcohol were listed as above. The
corn is degerminated, dehulled and milled, either in wet or dry. The milled corn mass was
conveyed to the cooker. Cooking was gelatinized the ground grain so that the barley malt
amylases can be converted the starch to fermentable sugars. The cookers may be batch
or continuous and are operated under pressure.

In the continuous process the grain was precooked for 1 – 5min with water and stillage.
The dealcoholized, fermented beer was discharged from the bottom of the beer still. The
mash was continuously fed to a steam heater that raised the temperature to 1750C. The
mash was passed through a series of pipes and discharged through a relief valve into a
flash chamber.
Time in the cooker was about 1.5min and pressure was maintained at 60 – 100kPa gages.
The temperature of the mash was dropped to about 600C in the flash chamber.
The water and malted barley mixed with gelatinized grain mash. The mix was pumped
through pipeline for 2min at 600C and then it was sent to fermenters through pipe coolers.
The starch was hydrolyzed to about 70% maltose and 30% dextrin in the short time in the
converter. To lower the pH, providing nutrition to yeast and provide buffering action
stillage (20 – 25% of the final mash volume) from the beer still was. The initial pH was
adjusted to 4.8 – 5.0 with sulfuric acid and/or stillage. As the reaction indicated,
fermentation is exothermic, so cooling may be necessary to ensure that maximum
temperature does not exceed 320C. The time of the fermentation may vary from 40 –
72hr.

The liquors in the fermenter, after the action was finished are called beer. The alcohol was
separated by distillation. The beer containing 5.5 – 11% alcohol by volume was pumped
to the upper section of the beer still. As the beer passes down the column, it loses its
lighter boiling constituents. The liquid discharged from the bottom of the still through heat
exchanger was known as Stillage. The overhead containing alcohol, water, and aldehydes
passes through heat exchanger to the partial condenser, or dephlegmator, which
condensed 50% alcohol, containing volatiles or aldehydes. The condensate was
conducted into the aldehyde column, from which the low boiling impurities were
separated as an overhead. The effluent liquor from bottom of the aldehyde column flows
into the rectifying column. In this third column the alcohol was brought to the strength
and finally purified to 95 – 95.6%.
2. By esterification and hydrolysis
Raw material
Basis: 1000kg of Industrial alcohol by esterification and hydrolysis
Ethylene 610kg
Water 390kg

Manufacture process
http://nptel.ac.in/courses/103106109/SWF%20files/Industrial%20alcohol%20by
%20esterification%20and%20hydrolysis.swf
Ethylene was passed in to the bottom of an absorption tower under 150 – 200psi
pressure. Sulfuric acid (90 – 95%) was charged from the top of the tower. The
temperature was maintained by controlling the rate of feed of ethylene and sulfuric acid.
Catalyst like oxide of iron or copper was added for better absorption. Due to ethylene
absorption in sulfuric acid, ethyl hydrogen sulfate and diethyl sulfate were formed. The
unabsorbed gas escaped from top of the tower and can be used for fuel. The mixtures of
ester were discharged from the bottom of the tower and diluted with water by 2times and
charged into hydrolyzer. In hydrolyzer, the mixture was heated at 70 0C for 4hrs. During
this time ester were converted into alcohol along with diethyl ether (5 – 10%). The
mixture of crude ethanol, dilute sulfuric acid and diethyl ether passed through stripping
column where dilute sulfuric acid was withdrawn from bottom of the column and
concentrated in evaporator and was reused.
While the remaining mixture passes into scrubber where sodium hydroxide solution was
sprayed which neutralized the traces of acid and withdrawn from bottom. The mixture of
ethanol, water and ether vapours were first condensed then sent to the ether column
where, from bottom steam was passed. Ethyl ether was escaped from the top while
alcohol obtained at bottom of the ether column, is purified in fractionating column. In
fractionating column 95% pure alcohol was obtained from the top which was then
condensed. 95% ethanol is also known as rectified spirit and ordinary rectified spirit is
known as industrial alcohol.
3. By catalytic hydration
Raw material
Basis: 1000kg of Industrial alcohol by catalytic hydration
Ethylene 580kg
Water 390kg
Reaction

Manufacture process
http://nptel.ac.in/courses/103106109/SWF%20files/Industrial%20alcohol%20by
%20catalytic%20hydration.swf
This is the latest method to obtained ethanol. Compressed 95% ethylene was first mixed
with recycle ethylene and mixed with water. The ethylene water mixture was charged to a
heat exchanger where it was converted into vapours. The vapours was again heated at
3000C in heater. Hot vapours was transfer into reactor where it passed over the inert
diatomaceous earth soaked with phosphoric acid. Ethylene was hydrated to form ethanol.
The mixture was then passed to high pressure separator so that unreacted ethylene gas
was separated out from alcohol mixture. Unreacted ethylene was scrubbed to remove hot
traces of alcohol and then recycled to process. As acetylene present in traces amount in
ethylene so, acetaldehyde also formed along with ethanol. Ethanol, water and
acetaldehyde were passed through stripping column where water was removed from the
bottom and remaining mixture escapes from the top of the column which was then
hydrogenated with hydrogen gas in presence of nickel catalyst.

Acetaldehyde was converted into ethanol due to catalytic-hydrogenation. Excess

hydrogen was separated from separator and reused while liquid from the bottom was
purified by fractional distillation where 95% alcohol known as industrial alcohol is
obtained.
Engineering aspects
Major engineering problems
Malt fermentation process
Maintenance of sterile and specific yeast culture conditions should be carried out

Collection and storage of molasses

Continuous molasses dilution and continuous distillation are introduced to save the
equipments, space and operating costs
During waste disposal if uneconomic to concentrate for cattle feed, trickling filters,
activated sludge or anaerobic digestion must be used to lower biological oxygen demand
before discharging to water run-off

For fuel economy in the series of distillations preheat exchangers are used

Improvement in fermentation alcohol yields

Generally in Indian plants 80 – 82% yield is obtained which is lower than U.S. plant.
Control of yeast culture and conditions are important. Alcohol should be recovered from
CO2 off gas via activated-carbon adsorption to increase the yield of alcohol.
PROPERTIES
Molecular formula : C2H6O

Molecular weight : 46.07gm/mole

Appearance : Colourless liquid

Odour : Mild and pleasant odour

Boiling point : 78.00C

Melting point : -1140C

Flash point : 13-140C

Autoignition temperature : 3630C

Density : 0.789gm/cm at 200C

3

Vapour pressure : 5.95kPa at 200C

Refractive index : 1.361

Solubility : Miscible with water