Other Industrial Alcohols

By changing the reaction conditions to aerobic or by using different microorganisms, it is possible to produce other alcohols and acetone. Today, these products are, however, available in large quantities from petrochemical sources and the fermentation route is mainly of historical interest. 

Fermentation by aerobic bacteria, such as Aerobacter and Erwinia, produces butane-2,3-diol with concentrations up to 10 percent. In the early 20th century, diol was an important product, as it could be converted to butane-1,3-diene, which could be polymerized to give synthetic rubber. At that time, natural rubber supplies were limited and the synthesis of butadiene from petrochemicals not yet developed. 

ABE (acetone, butanol, and ethanol) fermentation has a long history of commercial use and perhaps the greatest potential for an industrial comeback. Acetone, butanol, and ethanol can all be isolated from this remarkable metabolic system carbon dioxide and hydrogen are additional products. The solvents were used as paint solvents in the expanding automobile industry. Ultimately these processes proved uncompetitive because of poor yields, low product 

Recently genetic engineering was applied to transfer relevant genes to more hardy and solvent-tolerant clostridium microorganisms. This led to a 30 percent increase in product concentration that now makes the process commercially viable. 

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The plasticizer range alcohols are utilized primarily in plasticizers, but they also have a wide range of uses in other industrial and consumer products, as... 

Tetrahydronaphthalene [119-64-2] (Tetralin) is a water-white Hquid that is insoluble in water, slightly soluble in methyl alcohol, and completely soluble in other monohydric alcohols, ethyl ether, and most other organic solvents. It is a powerhil solvent for oils, resins, waxes, mbber, asphalt, and aromatic hydrocarbons, eg, naphthalene and anthracene. Its high flash point and low vapor pressure make it usehil in the manufacture of paints, lacquers, and varnishes for cleaning printing ink from rollers and type in the manufacture of shoe creams and floor waxes as a solvent in the textile industry and for the removal of naphthalene deposits in gas-distribution systems (25). The commercial product typically has a tetrahydronaphthalene content of >97 wt%, with some decahydronaphthalene and naphthalene as the principal impurities. 

The concentration of a solute has a considerable effect on the viscosity of the fluid and so on the surface convective resistance to heat flow. There is little published data on these effects, so applications need to be checked from basic principles. Industrial alcohol (comprising ethyl alcohol with a statutory addition of methyl alcohol to render it poisonous) may be used as a secondary refrigerant, either at 100% concentration or mixed with water. The fluid has a low viscosity and good heat transfer, but is nowlittle used on account of its toxicity and the fire risk in high concentrations. Other nonfreeze heat transfer fluids are used in specialist trades. 

Dextrose, obtained from starch, is the raw material for sorbitol and other sugar alcohols and polyols. Isolated starch (usually from corn) can be chemical modified and is used in large amounts as an inexpensive binder in the textile and paper industry. Chemically modified starch can be used as super-absorbers or in polymer manufacturing. 

Other industrial processes are the liquid-phase oxidation in the presence of cobalt catalysts [171] and the electrochemical oxidation in the presence of lower aliphatic alcohols via the corresponding anisaldehyde dialkyl acetal [172]. 

Fine industrial alcohol 96-5 1 8 2 4 4-2 Royal Commission on Whisky and other Potable Spirits Central Italian Customs Laboratory... 

In other industrially important processes, toluene is a source of benzyl chloride (C6H5CH2C1), benzal chloride (C6H5CHC12), benzotrichloride (C6H5CC13), benzyl alcohol (C6H5CH2OH), benzaldehyde (C6H5CHO), and sodium benzoate (C6H5COONa). 

Uses Methyl alcohol is a clear, colorless liquid with a slight alcoholic odor. It is used in the synthesis of formaldehyde, methylamine, ethylene glycol, methacrylates, and as an industrial solvent for a number of products (e.g., inks, resins, adhesives, dyes for straw hats). Methyl alcohol is an important ingredient commonly used to prepare grease and dirt remover. It also is used in the manufacture of photographic films, plastics, celluloid, textile soaps, wood stains, coated fabrics, paper coatings, artificial leather, and other industrial products. 

The most significant discovery in the history of carbohydrate thiocarbonates was reported in 1892 by Cross, Bevan, and Beadle, who found that cellulose reacts with a mixture of aqueous sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide to give a soluble dithiocarbonate derivative, from which cellulose can be regenerated. This observation, the basis of the Viscose process, was made at a time when only one other polyhydric alcohol thiocarbonate, that of glyceritol, was known. The subsequent industrial development of... 

Aqueous solutions of these alcohols occur when sugar solutions are fermented and may be separated by distilling the mixtures. It is a common, economically valuable process for manufacturing potable liquors and for producing industrial alcohol from fermented molasses solutions or pulp mill wastes. One of the authors (A.Y.M.) reports that design and operation of these columns is hampered by lack of vapor-liquid equilibrium data, especially for making potable liquors, where small amounts of the alcohols other than ethanol greatly affect the flavor and, therefore, the products marketability. 

Primary human skin irritation of tetradecanol, liexadecanol, and octadecanol is nil they have been used for many years in cosmetic creams and ointments (24). Based on human testing and industrial experience, the linear, even carbon number alcohols of 6—18 carbon atoms are not human skin sensitizers, nor are the 7-, 9- and 11-carbon alcohols and 2-ethylliexanol. Neither has industrial handling of other branched alcohols led to skin problems. Inhalation hazard, further mitigated by the low vapor pressure of these alcohols, is slight. Sustained breathing of alcohol vapor or mist should be avoided, however, as aspiration hazards have been reported (25). 

Lattice silver also can perform a dehydrogenative oxidation of alcohols with O2. For example, fert-butyl alcohol can be oxidized to isobutylene oxide on an O2 covered Ag(l 10) surface at elevated temperatures (85). However, other oxidation products also were produced. Experiments using 02 labeling revealed that the oxygen in the product is from the original alcohol and they believe the hydrogen atom from the methyl C—H bond is directly transferred to either O2 or another molecule of tcrf-butyl alcohol. Lattice silver is still widely used in industry and further studies hold promise for other industrially suitable methods (Fig. 14). 

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