Industrial Production of Ethanol from Sugar Cane (1 Viewer)

[bored of sc]

Does any know relevant chemical equations for the distillation and dehydration of ethanol after it is produced by the fermentation of glucose?

 

[yorkstanham]

Does any know relevant chemical equations for the distillation and dehydration of ethanol after it is produced by the fermentation of glucose?

look in your text book, it should all be there

 

[bored of sc]

look in your text book, it should all be there

I've checked thoroughly and unfortunately there's minimal information on it. Thanks for the reply though. So do you know the equations? Cheers.

 

[Starlette]

There's no equation for the distillation of ethanol from fermentation as distillation is not a chemical reaction just a separation technique.

The dehydration equation however is:
C2H5OH(g) ---> C2H4(g) + H20(g) , heated to 350 degrees and pouring the ethanol vapours over a concentrated sulfuric acid (H2SO4) catalyst to remove the water. Concentrated sulfuric acid is a dehydrating agent.

 

[bored of sc]

There's no equation for the distillation of ethanol from fermentation as distillation is not a chemical reaction just a separation technique.

The dehydration equation however is:
C2H5OH(g) ---> C2H4(g) + H20(g) , heated to 350 degrees and pouring the ethanol vapours over a concentrated sulfuric acid (H2SO4) catalyst to remove the water. Concentrated sulfuric acid is a dehydrating agent.

Thanks for that. Thanks particularly for pointing out the fact that it's a physical process. That helps alot.

As for dehydration, I'm actually looking for the dehydration of ethanol but the process in which the product is still ethanol i.e. removing further water from the solution of ethanol and water. I'm guessing could just be a physical process again so no chemical equation is required (available).

Cheers again for that.

 

[gurmies]

I think there is actually an equation for it, in that it is not physical. Quite sure there is a sulfuric acid catalyst used?

 

[Trebla]

Thanks for that. Thanks particularly for pointing out the fact that it's a physical process. That helps alot.

As for dehydration, I'm actually looking for the dehydration of ethanol but the process in which the product is still ethanol i.e. removing further water from the solution of ethanol and water. I'm guessing could just be a physical process again so no chemical equation is required (available).

Cheers again for that.

Technically, you're not "dehydrating" ethanol if you still get ethanol before and after the reaction. Dehydrating is converting the ethanol to ethylene. If you're just removing water, that's just evaporation or distillation (a physical not chemical process) which is just trivially written in the equation form like:
C₂H₅OH (aq.) + H₂O (l) --> C₂H₅OH (l) + H₂O (g)
The actual dehydration reaction where ethanol undergoes chemical change is the one stated by Starlette.