Butyl alcohol from sucrose

Oesterle, J., Franks, F., Auffret, T. The influence of tertiary butyl alcohol and volatile salts on the sublimation of ice from frozen sucrose solution Implications for freeze drying. Pharmaceutical Developments and Technology, 3 (2), p. 175-183, 1998. Copyright 1998 by Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N. Y., USA... 

Fig. 5.10 Scanning electron microscopy images of sucrose samples (metallized) that have been freeze-dried from a 5% (w/w) water solution with (a) pure waterand (b) 5% (w/w) aqueous solution of teri-butyl alcohol.

Butanol, which at one time was an unwanted by-product in the preparation of acetone, is now the most important product of the fermentation. The building of a large new factory in Puerto Rico using 10,000 tons of molasses per annum for its production is an indication of this importance. Butanol is probably still the best solvent for cellulose nitrate lacquers. Dibutyl phthalate is certainly the most widely used plasticizer for synthetic resins, and butyl oleate, tributyl citrate and dibutyl tartrate have also been described as plasticizers. Another important use of butanol is as a source of butadiene, which serves as an intermediate in the conversion of sucrose into a synthetic rubber. Although in recent years other methods have been described for the preparation of butanol (for example, from ethyl alcohol and from acetylene), yet the fermentation of carbohydrates is still the cheapest process. 

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