INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS- ETHANOL 1
Ethanol (ethyl alcohol, EtOH) is a clear, colourless liquid with a characteristic, pleasant odour . Ethyl alcohol is the intoxicating component in beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages. In dilute aqueous solution, it has a somewhat sweet flavor, but in more concentrated solutions it has a burning taste. It is also being used as a biofuel in several countries across the world. Large industrial plants are the primary sources of ethanol production, though some people have chosen to produce their own ethanol. Ethanol production from agricultural products has been in practice for more than 100 years 2 ETHANOL
. Ethanol can be produced from many kinds of raw materials that contain starch, sugar or cellulose etc. In general there are three groups of raw materials from which ethanol can be produced: 1) beet, sugar cane, sweet sorghum and fruits 2) starchy material such as corn, milo, wheat, rice, potatoes, cassava, sweet potatoes etc. 3) cellulose materials like wood, used paper, crop residues etc. The third group of materials mostly include biomass. Recently, biomass is being considered as an important biological resource for the production of ethanol 3
Ethanol/ ethyl alcohol/ drinking alcohol, is a chemical compound, with chemical formula C₂H₅OH . Boiling point -78.37 °C, molar mass - 46.07 g/mol . It is colorless , volatile , flammable liquid that has a characteristic odour. It burns with a smokeless blue flame that is invisible in normal light . 4 STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES
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It is imperative that the microorganisms used must have a high tolerance for alcohol, must grow vigorously and produce a large quantity of alcohol. Yeasts, particularly Saccharomyces cerevisiae , represent the best known microorganisms used in the production of ethyl alcohol. Yeast – Saccharomyces, Torulposis , Candida , Mucor sps etc. Most important kind belong to the Saccharomyces genus Two types : Top Fermenter yeasts ex: S. cervisiae Bottom fermenters ex: S. carlsbergensis 6 MICROORGANISMS
Efficient strain for large production . Fast growing strain. High tolerance to alcohol as well as osmotic pressure . Possess uniform and stable biochemical properties . 7 CRITERIA FOR STRAIN SELECTION
10 ml of sterile medium is inoculated with culture and incubated at 28 °c to 30 °c for a suitable period. Tube medium is transferred to a flask containing 200 ml sterile medium and incubated at 30 °c. The flask medium is further transferred to a glass container containing sterile medium and incubated. Finally the sterile medium is transferred into small vessel with 10 to 30 gallons of medium that goes fermentation 8 PREPARATION OF INOCULUM
Saccharide materials: molasses,, whey, glucose, fruit juices. Starchy material: potato starch, corn starch, wheat starch, cereals. Cellulosic materials: sulphite waste liquor Pretreatment of raw material depends on type of raw material. Sugary materials : mild Cellulosic: extensive acidic or enzyme hydrolysis to release monosaccharide units PRE TREATMENT: Hydrolysis, clarification, filtration 9 RAW MATERIALS
CARBON SOURCE: sugar concentration of 12 percent is usually used, being the optimum range. For ex: cane molasses contains sucrose as a carbon source. NITROGEN SOURCE: ammonium sulphate (0.15g per 2.5 gallons of molasses) is used to Promotes growth. pH: 4.8 - 5. Temperature: 70 to 80 °F. (30-35 °c) TIME: 24 hours. 10 FERMENTATION CONDITION
Alcoholic fermentation is an anaerobic process. Microorganisms utilizes the carbohydrates in the raw materials (molasses) for growth and metabolic activity and for the formation of alcohol. Monosaccharides have direct fermentation. But disaccharides have to first hydrolyze into hexose and later ferment into alcohols and gives out CO2. Follows the EMBDEN-MEYERHOF-PARNAS (EMP) pathway . C6H12O6 2CH3CH2OH + 2CO2 11 FERMENTATION PROCESS
Molasses contain about 50% fermentable carbohydrates (sugars). Big deep tanks of steel or stainless steel are used as containers in the industrial production method. Molasses is diluted to a suitable sugar concentration (15-16%); a small quantity of nitrogen source (e.g., ammonium phosphate, urea, ammonium sulphate) and sulphuric acid (H2SO4 ) is added in it. pH of this medium is maintained at about 5.0 and an actively growing Saccharomyces cerevisiae culture is added in it. The fermentation starts and is allowed to proceeding for about 24-40 hours at about 25-30°C temperature. 12 COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION USING MOLASSES AS RAW MATERIAL
The fermented medium is then distilled and passes through rectifying columns to obtain ethyl alcohol. The yield of ethyl alcohol ranges about 50% of the fermentable sugar concentration present in the medium. The large amount of CO2 which is produced during the fermentation process as a result of decarboxylation, is recovered and compressed to its solid state. The yeast recovered is usually used as an animal feed. 13 COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION USING MOLASSES AS RAW MATERIAL
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15 REACTIONS INVOLVED IN ALCOHOL FERMENTATION
Decarboxylase catalyses the decarboxylation of pyruvic acid to acetaldehyde. pyruvate decarboxylase CH3COCOOH CH3CHO + CO2 Alcohol dehydrogenase further catalyses the reduction of acetaldehyde to ethyl alcohol at the expense of NADH2 alcohol dehydrogenase CH3CHO + NADH2 CH3CH2OH + NAD 16 ENZYMES
Both yeasts ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae, S. uvarum S. carlsbergensis , Candida brassicae , C. utilis, Kluyveromyces fragilis, K. lactis ) and bacteria ( Zymomonas mobilis ) have been employed for ethanol production in industries. The commercial production is carried out with Saccharomyces cerevisiae . On the other hand ,S . uvarum has also largely been used. The Candida utilis is used for the fermentation of waste sulphite liquor since it also ferments pentoses. Recently, experimentation with Schizosaccharomyces has shown promising results. When whey from milk is used, strain of K. fragilis is recommended for the production of ethanol. It is also found that Fusarium, Bacillus and Pachysolen tannophilus (yeast) can transform pentose sugars to ethanol. It is noteworthy that the ethanol at high concentration inhibits the yeast. Hence, the concentration of ethanol reduces the yeast growth rate which affect the biosynthesis of ethanol. The bacteria Zymomonas mobilis has a merit over yeast that it has osmotic tolerance to higher sugar concentration. It is relatively having high tolerance to ethanol and have more specific growth rate. 17
When starches such as corn are used as the raw material they have first to be hydrolysed to release simple fermentable sugars. The hydrolysis can be accomplished with enzymes from barley malt or moulds (e.g., Aspergillus oryzae ) or by heat-treatment of acidified material. After the simple fermentable sugars are obtained, the fermentation process proceeds similarly to that of molasses. 18 COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION USING STARCH AS RAW MATERIAL
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Three types of substrates are used for ethanol production: (a) Starch containing substrate (b) Juice from sugarcane or molasses or sugar beet, (c) Waste products from wood or processed wood. (d) Production of ethanol from whey is not viable. 20 PREPERATION OF MEDIUM
If yeast strains are to be used, the starch must be hydrolysed as yeast does not contain amylases. After hydrolysis, it is supplemented with celluloses of microbial origin so as to obtain reducing sugars. About 1 ton of starch required 1 litre of amylases and 3.5 litre of glucoamylases. On the other hand, if molasses are used for ethanol production, the bagasse can also give ethanol after fermentation. Several other non-conventional sources of energy such as aquatic plant biomass, wood after hydrolysis with celluloses gives ethanol. Sulphite waste-liquor, a waste left after production of paper, also contains hexose as well as pentose sugar. The former can be microbially easily converted. 21
Ethanol is produced by continuous fermentation. Hence, large fermenters are used for continuous manufacturing of ethanol. The process varies from one country to another. India, Brazil, Germany, Denmark have their own technology for ethanol production. The fermentation conditions are almost similar (pH 5, temperature 35°C) but the cultures and culture conditions are different. The fermentation is normally carried out for several days but within 12h starts production. 22 FERMENTATION
After the fermentation is over, the cells are separated to get biomass of yeast cells which are used as single cell protein (SCP) for animal’s feed. The culture medium or supernatant is processed for recovery of ethanol Ethanol is also produced by batch fermentation as no significant difference is found both in batch and continuous fermentation. Although as stated earlier within 12h Saccharomyces cerevisiae starts producing ethanol at the rate of 10% (v/v) with 10-20g cells dry weight/lit. The reduction in fermentation time is accomplished use of cell recycling continuously in fermentation. 23
Ethanol can be recovered upto 95% by successive distillations. To obtain 100%, it requires to form an azeotropic mixture containing 5% water. Thus 5% water is removed from azeotropic mixture of ethanol, water and benzene after distillation. In this procedure, benzene water ethanol and then ethanol-benzene azeotropic mixture are removed so that absolute alcohol is obtained 24 RECOVERY
( i ) Use as a chemical feed stock : In the chemical industry, ethanol is an intermediate in many chemical processes because of its great reactivity. It is thus a very important chemical feed stock. (ii) Solvent use : Ethanol is widely used in industry as a solvent for dyes, oils, waxes, explosives, cosmetics etc. (iii) General utility : Alcohol is used as a disinfectant in hospitals, for cleaning and lighting in the home, and in the laboratory second only to water as a solvent. (iv) Fuel : Ethanol is mixed with petrol or gasoline up to 10% and known as gasohol and used in automobiles. 25 USES OF ETHANOL
Amorim, H., & Lima, U. A., (2000). Ethanol production. Industrial Biotechnology , 3, 16–17 Okafor, N. (2007). Modern Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. Science Publishers http://www.biologydiscussion.com/industrialmicrobiology2/fermentation-industrialmicrobiology-2/production-of-ethanol-microbiology/66072. 26 REFERENCE