Arbidol what components will remove sugar from the chips. How alcohol is produced on an industrial scale
The general scheme for obtaining ethyl alcohol from hydrolysis "black molasses" is as follows. The crushed raw material is loaded into a multi-meter steel hydrolysis column lined with chemically resistant ceramics from the inside. A hot solution of hydrochloric acid is supplied there under pressure. As a result of a chemical reaction from cellulose, a product containing sugar, the so-called "black molasses", is obtained. This product is neutralized with lime and yeast is added there - molasses is fermented. Then it is heated again, and the released vapors condense in the form of ethyl alcohol (I don’t want to call it “wine alcohol”).
The hydrolysis method is the most economical way to produce ethyl alcohol. If 50 liters of alcohol can be obtained from one ton of grain by the traditional biochemical method of fermentation, then 200 liters of alcohol are expelled from one ton of sawdust, hydrolyzed into “black molasses”. As the saying goes: "Feel the benefits!" The whole question is whether "black molasses" as saccharified cellulose can be called a "food product", along with grain, potatoes and beets. Persons interested in the production of cheap ethyl alcohol think so: “Well, why not? After all, bard, as the remainder of “black molasses”, after its distillation goes to feed livestock, which means that it is also a food product. How can one not recall the words of F.M. Dostoevsky: "An educated person, when he needs it, can verbally justify any abomination."
In the 1930s, the largest starch plant in Europe was built in the Ossetian village of Beslan, which has been producing millions of liters of ethyl alcohol ever since. Then powerful factories for the production of ethyl alcohol were built throughout the country, including at the Solikamsk and Arkhangelsk pulp and paper mills. I.V. Stalin, congratulating the builders of hydrolysis plants, who during the war, despite the difficulties of wartime, put them into operation ahead of schedule, noted that this “makes it possible for the state to save millions of poods of grain”(Newspaper "Pravda" of May 27, 1944).
Ethyl alcohol obtained from "black molasses", but, in fact, from wood (cellulose), saccharified by the hydrolysis method, if, of course, it is well purified, cannot be distinguished from alcohol obtained from grain or potatoes. According to current standards, such alcohol is of “highest purity”, “extra” and “luxury”, the latter is the best, that is, it has the highest degree of purification. Vodka prepared on the basis of such alcohol will not poison you. The taste of such alcohol is neutral, that is, “none” - tasteless, it has only one “degrees”, it only burns the mucous membrane of the mouth. Outwardly, it is quite difficult to recognize vodka made on the basis of ethyl alcohol of hydrolytic origin, and various flavors added to such “vodkas” give them some difference from each other.
However, not everything is as good as it seems at first glance. Geneticists conducted research: one batch of experimental mice was added to the diet of real (grain) vodka, the other - hydrolytic, from wood. Mice that used the "bitch" died much faster, and their offspring degenerated. But the results of these studies did not stop the production of pseudo-Russian vodkas. It's like a popular song: “After all, if vodka is not driven from sawdust, then what would we have from five bottles ...”
Blogger Sergey Anashkevich writes:
Do you remember the anecdote how Vasily Ivanovich asked Petka to hide a tank of alcohol from the soldiers, and he painted over the inscription "ALCOL", writing "C2H5OH" instead? And the soldiers in the morning were in the insole. How - it is written OH. It turned out, indeed, he is!
Surprisingly, there are practically no detailed reports on the network about how HIM is made - the main raw material for vodka.
As do the vodka itself - full. From fuselage to elite brands. Alcohol is not!
We will have to fill this gap, since last week I visited the Usadsky distillery not far from Kazan, which is part of the Tatspirtprom concern.
Here they make alcohol of the highest category "Alpha", which is gradually replacing the once top "Lux" from the production of high-quality vodka brands. All the same ancient method, invented before our era, implemented on an industrial scale in the XIV century and widely practiced in sheds and garages during the restructuring. Good old distillation...
At the entrance - grain from a bag, at the exit - the purest 96-degree liquid ...
As you know, the amusing effect of alcoholic beverages and methods of obtaining them have been known to mankind since biblical times: remember, Noah accidentally drank fermented fruit juice and became drunk. In general, scientists suggest that the idea of chemical distillation of liquids arose as early as the 1st millennium BC. The distillation process was first described by Aristotle (384–320 BC). Many alchemists of that time were engaged in improving the technique of distillation, believing that by distillation they were able to isolate the soul of wine. Due to this, the distillation product was called the "spirit of wine" (from the Latin "spiritus vini").
The process of obtaining alcohol was discovered in various regions of the globe almost simultaneously. In 1334, the alchemist from Provence Arnaud de Villeger (France) first obtained wine spirit from grape wine, considering it a healing agent. In the middle of the XIV century, some French and Italian monasteries produced wine alcohol called "Aquavitae" - "water of life", and in 1386, thanks to Genoese merchants, alcohol reached Moscow.
The production of ethyl alcohol began in Europe after the invention of the distillation apparatus in Italy in the 11th century. For several centuries, ethyl alcohol was almost never used in its pure form, except perhaps in the laboratories of alchemists. But in 1525, the famous Paracelsus noticed that the ether obtained by heating alcohol with sulfuric acid has a hypnotic effect. He described his experiences with poultry. And on October 17, 1846, the surgeon Warren put the first patient to sleep with ether.
Gradually, alcohol was divided into food and technical, obtained by splitting wood waste. In England, technical alcohol was exempted from increased sales taxes, since the market value of alcoholic beverages paid off government fees, but doctors and industrialists could not afford such a price. To prevent food consumption of toxic industrial alcohol, it was mixed with methanol and other malodorous additives.
Subsequently, alcohol received instant spread in medicine due to constant wars. In 1913, about 2,400 factories were recorded on the territory of the Russian Empire, producing mainly vodka and wine. Later there was a separation of the production of alcohol and vodka.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the production of vodka actually stopped, the production of alcohol also decreased. Production began to recover only in 1925-1926, and the grandiose restoration of the alcohol industry began only in 1947, new scientific and technical technologies and achievements began to be intensively applied. In 1965, there were 428 plants operating in the USSR with an annual output of 127.8 million deciliters of alcohol, and by 1975 the production of alcohol had increased to 188.1 million deciliters. In subsequent years, this production gradually decreased due to the increasing production of drinks with a lower strength.
Depending on the raw material, alcohol can be food and technical.
Food is made only from food raw materials. The most common and economical raw material for the production of alcohol is potatoes. Potato starch is easily boiled soft, gelatinized and saccharified. In addition to potatoes, grains are used for the production of alcohol - wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, millet, as well as sugar beet, sugar syrup or molasses.
Technical alcohol is obtained from wood or petroleum products subjected to acid hydrolysis.
Now about the categories of alcohol and why Alpha is replacing Lux. The thing is that Alpha alcohol must be produced from wheat, rye or from a mixture of them, that is, exclusively from grain raw materials, unlike other alcohols, which can also be produced from a mixture of grain and potatoes.
The second important difference between Alpha and Lux is the reduced content of toxic methyl alcohol: the norm of its content is only 0.003% in terms of anhydrous alcohol, while for Lux alcohol it is 0.02%. This is essential!
At the Usladsky distillery, alcohol is produced exclusively from wheat and only one category - "Alpha".
Wheat is brought in special grain trucks and placed in high barrels-elevators, from where it is further fed to production.
Grain for the production of alcohol must be of good quality and moisture content of not more than 17%, otherwise there is a high risk of spoilage, which will affect the quality of the final product.
From the storage tanks, with the help of a huge and powerful pump-turbine, the grain is “pumped” through high columns for primary processing.
Pump for "pumping" grain from storage for cleaning:
The first task is to clean the grain from all impurities, both solid and ordinary rubbish, husks, etc.
So at the very beginning it gets to the separator.
First, the wheat is sifted through a sieve, on which all large objects remain.
This rubble accumulated near the separator in just half a day!
Here is what remains after the grain has "left" further through the pipes for crushing:
The crusher turns the grain into coarse flour. This is necessary for further cooking of the grain and the release of starch from it.
Boiling grain occurs in order to destroy its cell walls. As a result, the starch is released and converted into a soluble form. In this state, it is much easier to saccharify with enzymes. The grain is treated with steam at an overpressure of 500 kPa. When the boiled mass leaves the brewer, the reduced pressure leads to the formation of steam (from the water contained in the cells).
Such an increase in volume breaks the cell walls and turns the grain into a homogeneous mass. The boiling temperature is 172°C and the cooking time is about 4 minutes.
All processes occurring at the distillery are monitored by operators in the control room. Here they see in full everything that happens at each site, since the process of alcohol production is continuous and carried out 24/7. 
The crushed grain is mixed with water in a proportion of 3 liters per 1 kg of grain. The grain mixture is heated by steam (75°C) and pumped into the contact hole of the plant. It is here that the instant heating of the slurry to a temperature of 100 ° C occurs. After that, the heated batch is placed in the cooking apparatus.
During the saccharification process, malted milk is added to the chilled mass to break down the starch. Active chemical interaction leads to the fact that the product becomes absolutely suitable for the further fermentation process. The result is a wort that contains 18% dry sugar.
When an iodine test is made from the mass, the color of the wort must remain unchanged.
Fermentation of the wort begins with the introduction of commercial yeast into the saccharified mass. Maltose is broken down to glucose, which in turn is fermented into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Secondary fermentation products (essential acids, etc.) also begin to form.
The fermentation process takes place in huge closed fermentation units, which prevent the loss of alcohol and the release of carbon dioxide into the production hall.
The units are so big that the top and bottom parts are on different floors!
This is what the braga looks like in the installation. You should look very carefully so as not to inhale carbon dioxide vapors.
The carbon dioxide and alcohol vapor released during the fermentation process from the fermentation unit enter special compartments, where the water-alcohol liquid and carbon dioxide are separated. The content of ethyl alcohol in the mash should be up to 9.5 vol.%.
By the way, at the factory we were offered to try the brew.
Everywhere in the shops you can see such fountains. They are designed to wash the eyes in case of contact with dangerous products of production, which are lacking here.
Next, proceed to the distillation of alcohol from the mash and its rectification. Alcohol begins to stand out from the mash as a result of boiling at different temperatures. The distillation mechanism itself is based on the following pattern: alcohol and water have different boiling points (water - 100 degrees, alcohol - 78 ° C). The released steam begins to condense and collect in a separate container. Purification of alcohol from impurities is carried out at a distillation plant.
Above us is the floor with distillation units. There's a whole network of pipelines running down here, some for alcohol, some for water, some for steam, some for by-products.
And it's hot in the rectification room!!!
Raw alcohol (raw alcohol) obtained at the main stage of production cannot be used for food purposes, as it contains many harmful impurities (fusel oils, methyl alcohol, esters). Many impurities are poisonous and give alcohol an unpleasant odor, which is why raw alcohol is subjected to purification - rectification.
This process is based on different boiling points of ethyl, methyl and higher alcohols, esters. In this case, all impurities are conditionally divided into head, tail and intermediate.
Head impurities have a lower boiling point than ethyl alcohol. These include acetaldehyde and individual esters (ethyl acetate, ethyl formate, etc.) formed during distillation.
Tail impurities have a higher boiling point than ethyl alcohol. They mainly contain fusel oils and methyl alcohol.
The most difficult to separate fraction are intermediate impurities (ethyl ester of isobutyric acid and other esters).
When cleaning raw alcohol on distillation apparatus, harmful impurities are separated and the concentration of alcohol in the finished product increases (from 88% in raw alcohol to 96-96.5% in rectified product).
Ready alcohol with a strength of 96% is pumped into storage tanks.
You should look into these containers even more carefully than into containers with mash. Here you can get drunk in an instant ...
Ready alcohol is sent for control measurements and, if everything is in order, it is assigned the Alpha category, and then it will go to the production of vodka or other purposes ...
Carbohydrates got their name by mistake. It happened in the middle of the last century. Then it was believed that the molecule of any sugary substance corresponds to the formula C m (H 2 O) n. All then known carbohydrates fit this measure, and the formula for glucose C 6 H 12 O 6 was written as C 6 (H 2 O) 6.
But later, sugars were discovered that turned out to be an exception to the rule. So, a clear representative of rhamnose carbohydrates (it also gives the Molisch reaction) has the formula C 6 H 12 O 5. And although the inaccuracy in the name of a whole class of compounds was obvious, the term "carbohydrates" has already become so familiar that they did not change it. However, today many chemists prefer a different name - "sugar".
We will try to obtain one of the sugars from sawdust by hydrolysis, that is, by decomposition with water. This is a very common chemical process. Sawdust and other wood waste contain carbohydrate fiber (cellulose). Glucose is prepared from it at hydrolysis plants, which can then be used in different ways; most often it is fermented, turning it into alcohol, the starting product for many chemical syntheses. A large and independent branch of the chemical industry is called the hydrolysis industry,
Before reproducing the process of wood hydrolysis, let's try to understand what its essence is, and for this it will be more convenient to start not with sawdust, but with cucumbers and splintering.
Wash a fresh cucumber, grate it and squeeze out the juice. The juice can be filtered, but it is not necessary.
Prepare copper hydroxide Сu(OH) 2 in a test tube. To do this, add 2-3 drops of copper sulfate solution to 0.5-1 ml of sodium hydroxide solution. Add an equal volume of cucumber juice to the resulting precipitate and shake the test tube. The precipitate will dissolve and a blue solution will be obtained. Such a reaction is typical for polyhydric alcohols, i.e., for alcohols that contain several hydroxyl groups.
Now heat to a boil (or put in boiling water) a test tube with the resulting blue solution. It will first turn yellow, then turn orange, and after cooling, a red precipitate of copper oxide Cu 2 O will form. This reaction is characteristic of another class of organic compounds - aldehydes. This means that in cucumber juice there is a substance that is an aldehyde and an alcohol at the same time. This substance is glucose, which in structure is an aldehyde alcohol. Thanks to her, the cucumber has a sweetish taste.
You probably guess that this experiment does not have to be done with cucumber juice. It also works well with other sweet juices - grape, carrot, apple, pear. You can also take cucumber toilet water, which is sold in perfume shops, for experience. And, of course, just glucose tablets.
Now the second preliminary experiment: saccharification of a splinter.
Prepare a solution of sulfuric acid: add one volume of concentrated sulfuric acid to one volume of water (never pour water into acid!). Put a splinter into a test tube with a solution and heat the solution to a boil. At the same time, the splinter will be charred, but this will not interfere with the experience.
After heating, remove the splinter, lower it into another test tube with 1-2 ml of water and boil. Both tubes now contain glucose. You can check this by adding two or three drops of copper sulfate to the solutions, and then caustic soda - a familiar blue color will appear. If this solution is boiled, a red precipitate of copper oxide Cu 2 O will fall out, as we expected. So, glucose has been detected.
The fact that our splinter is sugared is the result of the hydrolysis of cellulose (and its share in wood accounts for about 50%). As in the hydrolysis of starch, sulfuric acid is not consumed in this process, it plays the role of a catalyst.
Finally, we come to the main experience that was promised in the title: making sugar from sawdust.
Pour 2-3 tablespoons of sawdust into a porcelain cup and moisten them with water. Add a little more water and an equal amount of the previously prepared sulfuric acid solution (1: 1), mix the liquid slurry well. Close the lid and place in the gas stove oven (or in the Russian oven) for about an hour, maybe a little less.
Then take out the cup, add water to the top and stir. Filter the solution and neutralize the filtrate by adding crushed chalk or lime water until no more carbon dioxide bubbles are released. The end of neutralization can also be judged by testing the liquid with a litmus test or one of the homemade indicators. It is not necessary to drip the indicator directly into the reaction mass. You should take a sample, literally 2-3 drops, and place it on a glass plate or in a small test tube.
Pour the contents of the cup into a milk bottle, shake the liquid and let stand for several hours. Calcium sulfate, formed during the neutralization of the acid, will settle to the bottom, and a glucose solution will remain on top. Carefully pour it into a clean cup (preferably over a glass rod) and filter.
The last operation remained - evaporation of water in a water bath. After it, light yellow glucose crystals remain at the bottom. They can be tasted, but only - the product is not pure enough.
So, we have completed four operations: sawdust pulping with a solution of sulfuric acid, acid neutralization, filtration and evaporation. This is how glucose is obtained in hydrolysis plants, only, of course, not in porcelain cups.
And we can reproduce another industrial process without much difficulty: we turn one sugar into two others.
When stored for a long time, homemade jam is often candied. This is because the sugar crystallizes out of the syrup. With jam, which is sold in the store, such a misfortune happens much less often. The fact is that in canneries, in addition to beet or cane sugar sucrose C 12 H 22 O 11, other sugary substances are also used, for example, invert sugar. What is sugar inversion and what it leads to, you will learn from the following experience.
Pour into a test tube or glass 10-20 g of a weak sugar solution and add a few drops of dilute hydrochloric acid. After that, heat the solution in a boiling water bath for ten to fifteen minutes, and then neutralize the acid, preferably with magnesium carbonate MgCO 3 . Pharmacies sell the so-called white magnesia, a substance of a slightly more complex composition; she fits too. In extreme cases, you can take NaHCO 3 baking soda, but then table salt will remain in the solution, which somehow does not harmonize with sugar ...
Once the carbon dioxide bubbles have stopped, let the liquid settle. Just in case, check with an indicator whether the acid is completely neutralized. Drain the settled liquid and taste it: it will seem less sweet than the original solution (for comparison, leave a little of the original sugar solution).
In the finished solution, there was practically no sucrose left, but two new substances appeared - glucose and fructose. This process is called sugar inversion, and the resulting mixture is called invert sugar.
And here's what's curious: outwardly, there is nothing to detect a reaction. And the color, and volume, and the reaction of the environment remain the same. No gases or precipitation are emitted. Nevertheless, the reaction goes on, only optical instruments are needed to detect it. Sugars are optically active substances: a beam of polarized light, passing through their solution, changes the direction of polarization. They say that sugars rotate the plane of polarization, and in one direction or another, and at a very definite angle. So, sucrose rotates the plane of polarization to the right, and glucose and fructose, the products of its hydrolysis, to the left. Hence the word "inversion" (in Latin "reversal").
But, since there are no optical instruments at our disposal, let's try to make sure by chemical means that the sugar taken has indeed undergone changes. Add a few drops of a solution of methylene blue (you can take blue ink for fountain pens) and a little weak solution of any alkali to the initial and resulting sugar solutions. Heat the test solutions in a water bath. In a test tube with ordinary sugar, no changes will occur, but the contents of a test tube with invert sugar will become almost colorless.
Invert sugar is much less prone to crystallization than regular sugar. If you carefully evaporate its solution in a water bath, you get a thick syrup that looks a bit like honey. After cooling, it does not crystallize.
By the way, three-quarters of the beloved bee honey consists of the same carbohydrates as invert sugar - glucose and fructose. Artificial honey is also made on the basis of invert sugar. Of course, our syrup differs from honey, and significantly - mainly in the absence of smell. But if you add a little natural honey to it, then this drawback can be partially eliminated.
But why not make more non-crystallizing syrup at home to make jam on it? Alas, its complete purification from foreign substances is difficult, and there is no guarantee that it will be possible to complete it. In any case, it's not worth the risk.
O. Olgin. "Experiments without explosions"
M., "Chemistry", 1986
sawdust sugar
from "Experiments Without Explosions"
Carbohydrates got their name by mistake. It happened in the middle of the last century. Then it was believed that the molecule of any sugary substance corresponds to the formula C (H20). All carbohydrates known at that time fit this measure, and the formula for glucose 6H 206 was written as С6(Н20)6.But later, sugars were discovered that turned out to be an exception to the rule. Thus, a clear representative of ramiose carbohydrates (it also gives the Molisch reaction) has the formula CbH)205. And although the inaccuracy in the name of a whole class of compounds was obvious, the term carbohydrates has already become so familiar that they did not change it. However, today many chemists prefer a different name - sugar.
We will try to get one of the sugars from sawdust by hydrolysis, i.e. decomposition by water. This is a very common chemical process. Sawdust and other wood waste contain carbohydrate fiber (cellulose). Glucose is prepared from it at hydrolysis plants, which can then be used in different ways, most often it is fermented, turning it into alcohol, the starting product for many chemical syntheses. A large and independent branch of the chemical industry is called the hydrolysis industry.
Before reproducing the process of wood hydrolysis, let's try to understand what its essence is, and for this it will be more convenient to start not with sawdust, but with cucumbers and splintering.
Wash a fresh cucumber, grate it and squeeze out the juice. The juice can be filtered, but it is not necessary.
Prepare copper hydroxide Cu(OH)2 in a test tube. To do this, add 2-3 drops of copper sulphate solution to 0.5-1 ml of sodium hydroxide solution. Add an equal volume of cucumber juice to the resulting precipitate and shake the test tube. The precipitate will dissolve and a blue solution will be obtained.
Such a reaction is typical for polyhydric alcohols, i.e. for alcohols that contain several hydroxyl groups.
Now heat to a boil (or put in boiling water) a test tube with the resulting blue solution. It will first turn yellow, then turn orange, and after cooling, a red precipitate of Cu20 copper oxide will form.
You probably guess that this opyg does not have to be put with cucumber juice. It also works well with other sweet juices - grape, carrot, apple, fush. You can take for experience and cucumber toilet water, which is sold in perfume shops. And, of course, just glucose tablets.
Now the second preliminary experience is the saccharification of a splinter.
Prepare a solution of sulfuric acid to one volume of water, add one volume of concentrated sulfuric acid (never pour water into acid). Put a splinter into a test tube with a solution and heat the solution to a boil. At the same time, the splinter will be charred, but this will not interfere with the experience.
After heating, remove the splinter, lower it into another test tube with 1 - 2 ml of water and boil. Both tubes now contain glucose. You can check this by adding two or three drops of copper sulfate to the solutions, and then caustic soda - a familiar blue color will appear. If this solution is boiled, as we expected, a red precipitate of copper oxide Cu2O will fall out. So, glucose is found.
that our splinter was sugared, and there is a result of the hydrolysis of cellulose (and its share in wood accounts for about 50%). As in the hydrolysis of starch, sulfuric acid is not consumed in this process, it plays the role of a catalyst.
Finally, we come to the main experience that was promised in the title Making Sugar from Sawdust.
Pour 2-3 tablespoons of sawdust into a porcelain cup and moisten them with water. Add a little more water and an equal amount of the previously prepared sulfuric acid solution (1 1), mix the liquid slurry well. Close the lid and put in the gas stove oven (or in the Russian oven) for about an hour, maybe a little less.
Pour the contents of the cup into a milk bottle, shake the liquid and let stand for several hours. Calcium sulfate, formed during the neutralization of the acid, will settle to the bottom, and a glucose solution will remain on top. Carefully pour it into a clean cup (preferably over a glass rod) and filter.
The last operation remained - evaporation of water in a water bath. After it, light yellow glucose crystals remain at the bottom. They can be tasted, but only - the product is not pure enough.
we performed four operations: sawdust pulping with sulfuric acid solution, acid neutralization, filtration and evaporation. This is how glucose is obtained at hydrolysis plants, only, of course, not in porcelain cups ...
And yet another industrial process we can reproduce without much difficulty, we turn one sugar into two others.
When stored for a long time, homemade jam is often candied. This is because the sugar crystallizes out of the syrup. With jam, which is sold in the store, such a misfortune happens much less often. The fact is that in canning factories, in addition to beet or cane sugar, sucrose StsNggOts, other sugary substances are also used, for example, invert sugar. What is sugar inversion and what it leads to, you will learn from the following experience.
