Production of Ethanol

Question 1

What is Ethene produced from?

Answer 1

Crude Oil

Question 2

Ethene + Steam ➡

Answer 2

Ethanol

Question 3

What type of reaction is Ethene + Steam?

Answer 3

Addition Reaction

Question 4

What temperature and pressure does the reaction need?

Answer 4

300°C, 60-70 atmospheres

Question 5

Why is this process cheap?

Answer 5

Ethene is cheap and not much is wasted.

Question 6

What will the cost of this process be in the future?

Answer 6

Expensive, crude oil is a non-reneweable resource, therefore it will run out one day. This means that using ethen to make ethanol will become expensive.

Question 7

What is the raw material for fermentation?

Answer 7

Sugar (glucose)

Question 8

Yeast cells contain enzymes, what are they?

Answer 8

Enzymes are naturally occurring catalysts.

Question 9

What temperature does the fermentation mixture need to be and why?

Answer 9

30°C, if lower reaction will too slow, if higher enzymes will denature stopping reaction entirely.

Question 10

Should the mixture be kept in aerobic or aneorobic conditions?

Answer 10

Aneorobic, if ethanol reacts with the oxygen in the air it will turn into ethanoic acid.

Question 11

Name advantages of the fermentation process.

Answer 11

1) Reaction of ethene with steam uses non renewable resources, this uses renewable resources. Sugar (sugar cane) is grown in crop fields and so is yeast.

Question 12

Name disadvantages of the fermentation process.

Answer 12

1) The ethanol you get is not very concentrated, therefore it needs to be distilled to increase its strength and needs to be purified.