Waste alcohol from

Method 1. Place 11 5 g, of clean metallic sodium (compare Section III,7, Note 1), cut into small pieces, into a dry 1 litre round-bottomed fiask fitted with a 25 cm. double surface reflux condenser. Introduce 250 ml. of absolute, but preferably super dry (see Section 11,47, 5) ethyl alcohol all at once. A vigorous reaction ensues if the condenser tends to become flooded with alcohol, cool the flask either by surrounding it with a wet towel or by directing the waste water from the condenser upon... 

IX. Production of Alcohol from Sulfite Waste Liquor. 187... 

In Sweden the production of alcohol increased from 8 million liters in 1934 to 23 million in 1936, 32 million in 1939 and 33 million in 1940. Sweden had 33 plants producing alcohol from sulfite waste liquor in 1940. Many improvements have been made with respect to yields and operating costs. 

Solid waste discharges from chemical plants can represent very large problems, especially from paper mills, plastics plants, and food processing plants. Some materials do not decompose in the environment, and can become burdens when they accumulate. Some polymers have backbones that degrade in nature, such as aliphatic polyesters and polyvinyl alcohols others do not, such as polyethylene and polystyrene. 

In hydrocarbon oxidation processes to produce alcohol, there is always a degree of overoxidation. The alcohol is often further oxidized to waste carboxylic acids and carbon oxides. If boric acid is introduced to the reactor, the alcohol reacts to form a borate ester, which protects the alcohol from further oxidation. The introduction of boric acid terminates the by-product formation pathway and greatly increases the product yield. The borate ester of alcohol is then hydrolyzed, releasing boric acid for recycle back to the process. This kind of reaction pathway control has been applied to a commercial process, resulting in about a 50% reduction in waste generation once the process was optimized. 

Waste waters in the production of silicone monomers and polymers is an important economic issue. It is connected with environmental protection from air contamination and pollution of rivers, seas and other water bodies. Especially important in silicone production is the purification of acid waste waters from organic impurities (toluene, benzene, methyl alcohol, etc.). 

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. 

Use Feed, food, raw material for various alcohols, acetone, citric acid, and yeast propagation. Sodium glutamate is made from Steffens molasses, a waste liquor from beet sugar manufacture. 

Properties White, crystalline powder. Mp (decomposes). Soluble in water and alcohol. Shows optical activity, most effective between pH 6 and 8. Derivation (1) Alkaline hydrolysis of the waste liquor from beet sugar refining, (2) a similar hydrolysis of wheat or com gluten, (3) organic synthesis based on acrylonitrile. 

Ellwood Hendrick, Alcohol from Sulphite Pulp Waste Liquor, Paper, 3 April, 1918, pp, 13-5. 2 figs. 

Carrying out distillation using a vacuum (low pressure) allows use of lower temperatures and attains higher alcohol concentrations. For instance, at 42 mm Hg pressure (about 6 percent of atmospheric pressure (Normal atmospheric pressure is 760 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury column), equivalent to 30 inches of Hg or 14.7 psi. Thus, 6 percent of 14.7 psi is approximately 0.88 psi.), the temperature at the bottom of the column need only be about 35° C (95° F) and the top about 20° C (68° F). This makes it hard to condense the vapor, since there is a smaller temperature difference between the vapor and the coolant (whether air or water). But this pressure may be advantageous if heat is supplied at only 35° C Here, waste heat from other machinery or solar heat might be exploited. 

In some preliminary experiments concerning the manufacture of ethyl alcohol from wood waste, F. W. Kressman described a process as follows The process of producing ethyl alcohol from wood consists, in (general, of digesting sawdust or hogged and shredded wood with a dilute mineral acid at from 60 pounds and more, of steam pressure. This converts part of the wood into a mixture of pentose and hexose sugars. The latter are then fermented, producing alcohol. 

Different other wastes can also be considered [27], such as carbohydrates molasses, starch and whey [69], cellulose hydrolysates [e.g., paper industry waste) alcohols wastes from biodiesel production, methanol plus glycerol, methanol fats and oils lipids from plant and animal wastes organic acids lactic acid from the dairy industry. 

The overhead product of the third column is an azeotropic mix of higher alcohols, cyclohexane and water which is fed to a second phase separator. The light phase in this separator, consisting essentiaUy of cyclohexane, is recycled to the second column whereas the aqueous phase is fed either to the first column or to the first phase separator. The diagram does not show the equipment to handle the cyclohexane and to remove the residual alcohol from the waste water. This plant arrangement yields a product containing less than 0.1 wt. % of water. 

A different approach is provided by the utilization of carbon sources that have a considerable market value and do not constitute waste materials, but are produced in a process integrating the fabrication of the carbon substrate and PHA. This has been implemented on a pilot scale by the company PHB Industrial in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Starting from sugar cane, the company produces saccharose and ethanol. The waste streams from the sugar production (bagasse) and the bioethanol production (fusel alcohols) are used for running the PHA production and making it economically competitive. 

---