What is ethanol produced from?

Ethanol is produced from corn or other starch grains, water, enzymes, ammonia and yeast Alcohol or grain alcohol has different uses, among which alcoholic beverage is the most common However, it can also be used as a fuel, raw material or hand sanitizer Ethanol production process can be traced back hundreds of years Although the overall process has changed, the basic concept is the same The first step in ethanol production is to find an agricultural product rich in starch or sugar Corn is most commonly used, but it can also be wheat, barley, beets and potatoes Ethanol is produced from raw plant materials There are two forms of ethanol production: dry grinding and wet grinding The difference between them is the treatment process of raw materials before production In dry grinding, after collecting the raw materials, it can be ground into fine powder The powder is then mixed with water to form a paste called mash Mix the enzymes in the malt pulp, then liquefy the starch with a cooker and remove the bacteria It is also necessary to add ammonia to control pH and provide nitrogen to yeast After the mash is cooled, more enzymes are added to help turn starch into glucose, a sugar yeast can eat It is then fed into a fermentation barrel where yeast is added Yeast eat sugar from malt pulp and produce alcohol and carbon dioxide as byproducts At the end of fermentation, the "beer" is sent to the distillation tower, where ethanol is separated The ethanol is then dehydrated to 200 standard alcohol In the wet grinding process, the raw materials are first immersed in water and acid solution This can help break them down Then slurry grinding separates the germ from the kernel The fibers are then removed from the slurry The slurry is sent to the hydrocyclone to remove starch Starch is then converted into sugar and fermented into ethanol If ethanol is produced for fuel or other purposes, other processes called denaturation are required Denatured ethanol is toxic to human body After denaturation of ethanol, it can be used for fuel additive, anticorrosion or other purposes In order to denature ethanol, gasoline and other products need to be added.