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How is bioethanol produced?

flag	asked Jan 6 at 12:46 Orval Josiah 390●6

judith · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-09 17:14:33Z UTC

Bioethanol is a renewable fuel produced from crops such as sugarcane, corn, potato and manioc. It consists of 3 major processes:

1)Fermentation of sugar by microbes (yeast): The microbes act on the sugars present in plants and convert them to ethanol through anaerobic respiration. This process can be explained by the following reactions:

C6H12O6 + H2O ---> C6H12O6 + C6H12O6 Sucrose Fructose glucose

C6H12O6 ----> 2C2H5OH + 2CO2 Ethanol

2)Distillation: It is the process by which water is removed from the ethanol. Removing water makes the fuel combustible.

3)Dehydration: It is another process to remove water. It is slowly being phased out and it is being replaced by a new energy efficient technology called molecular sieving.

Jon Silver · Answer 2 · 2010-01-14 16:08:44Z UTC

Bioethanol (also known as E85 or, in the U.S., just ethanol) runs is usable by a great number of cars. Any car that runs on gasoline can run on a mostly ethanol mixture with a few simple changes to its fuel system. All cars sold in the U.S. and EU can use gasoline that's 10 percent ethanol and, in most of the U.S., that's the standard fuel formulation in almost all gas stations. Any car that's labelled a "flexfuel" can use E-85. Most popular vehicles come in flexfuel models including the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Ford Focus, Chevy Malibu, and Ford F-series truck.

ItzelMillaray · Answer 3 · 2010-01-15 09:34:08Z UTC

Biodiesel is vegetable oil (in a few cases, animal fats) that is refined an extra step

and, thus, is produced in the same way as vegetable or animal fat. Basically, the fat is

rendered out from its source. Biodiesel is refined another step beyond that used for most

food oils so that it doesn't damage engines.

How is bioethanol produced?

3 Answers