Producton Of Ethanol

Question 1

How can ethanol be produced from ethene and steam

Answer 1

Requires a temperature of 300 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 60-70 atmospheres
It is an addition reaction as water is added
Phosphoric acid is used as a catalyst
It is cheap right now as ethene is fairly cheap, and not much of it is wasted
But as crude oil is a non-renewable source, using ethene to make ethanol will start to become very expensive in the future

Question 2

How can ethanol be produced by fermentation

Answer 2

Yeast contains an enzyme
Temperature must be set to 30 degrees Celsius
Keep conditions anaerobic to ensure that oxygen does not convert ethanol to ethanoic acid
All the raw materials are renewable resources e.g. sugar
Years is also easy to grow
However the ethanol produced is not very concentrated and needs to be distilled to increase its strength, it also needs to be purified