Application Of Ethanol In Beverage Industry

CHAPTER 1

PROCESS BACKGROUND AND SELECTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION OF ETHANOL

Ethanol is one type of alcohol with two carbon attached on it in the chemical structure as in Fig 1.1. Ethanol is known as ethyl alcohol, ethyl hydrate and ethyl hydroxide with molecular formula C2H5OH. The general property of ethanol is a clear liquid and colorless. It comes with a pleasant odor. The molecular weight of ethanol is 46.07 g/mol. the density of the ethanol is 789 kg/m3 at 78.3 ⁰C. Ethanol is also fully miscible in water. The physical properties of ethanol can be referred in Table 1. Figure 1.1 Chemical structure of ethanol

Ethanol has its own physical and chemical properties. The physical property of ethanol is it has hydroxyl group that makes

The main application of ethanol is as alcoholic drinks, biofuel and solvent. For the application of ethanol in beverage industry like whiskey, beer and vodka, the process of alcoholic drinks are by fermentation of rice or barley (Lazonby, J., 2017). Other than that, ethanol is used in medical field as antiseptic for sterilizing wound and ethanol is also used in cough syrup. It can be seen that the production of ethanol is being demanded from various industries. However, world now is focusing on the biofuel production for vehicles instead continuously using petroleum. Biofuel is the energy from the complete combustion process of ethanol with oxygen. Thus, biofuel by using ethanol provides another energy option other than fossil fuels for the sources of vehicles’ fuel. The ethanol fuel is a promising industry today. This is because according to Gnansounou and Dauriat (2005), in 1973, ethanol fuel becomes cheaper than gasoline and lead to first worldwide oil crisis. In 1975, during the worldwide oil crisis, the Brazillian government launched the largest nation-wide strategic programme for production and use of ethanol as an alternative motor fuel (Gnansounou and Dauriat,

Therefore, for direct hydration process, acid catalyst such as phosphoric acid, H3PO4 is used. Based on Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) (2017), H3PO4 is fed to the top of the tower. The yield percentage that can be obtained from direct hydration process is about 95% until 97% (Afdc, 2017). But, for indirect hydration process, sulphuric acid, H2SO4 is used as acid catalyst. H2SO4 is sprayed at the top of the section of the column (Afdc, 2017). The acid catalyst is sprayed by using acid proof spray nozzles and it is important to ensure the concentration of acid is maintained (Afdc, 2017). The percentage of yield by using indirect hydration process is about 95% (Afdc,