producing Pure Ethanol

[nath88nael]

So, i figured i would make my own ethanol to use as fuel.

 

I'm looking into the neccesary alterations that will be made to such things as the carburetor elsewhere,

 

 

 

my question for this topic is:

what is the expected cost of production?

 

 

i'll buy sugar at the local store (estimated $0.378 per pound)

 

and use a yeast / water mixture in the absence of air to produce ethanol.

 

then i plan to heat the mixture until the ethanol boils off (78.1 celsius)

 

and i wonder how much ethanol will be produced per pound of sugar.

[Bignose]

you can only boil it to around 90% pure ethanol, as water & ethanol form an azeotrope. If that isn't sufficient, you're going to have to use different methods than simple boiling.

[John Cuthber]

How much fuel will you burn to distil the alcohol?

Will you get more fuel than you start with?

[nath88nael]

@Bignose, very relevant, thank you.

 

@John Cuthber, i plan on using a stove (or maybe taking apart a few toasters) to provide an electrical heating element which i'll supply either from the city grid or a small solar panel.

[CaptainPanic]

So, i figured i would make my own ethanol to use as fuel.

 

I'm looking into the neccesary alterations that will be made to such things as the carburetor elsewhere,

 

 

 

my question for this topic is:

what is the expected cost of production?

 

 

i'll buy sugar at the local store (estimated $0.378 per pound)

 

and use a yeast / water mixture in the absence of air to produce ethanol.

 

then i plan to heat the mixture until the ethanol boils off (78.1 celsius)

 

and i wonder how much ethanol will be produced per pound of sugar.

If your sugar is $0.378 per pound, then your enthanol will cost more than $0.756 per pound, because from each pound of sugar, you will only make 0.5 pound ethanol (that is the theoretical optimum... doing it at home, with amateur equipment will get worse results).

 

0.5 pound ethanol is equal to about 0.16 gallon ethanol, so your ethanol would be $4.5 per gallon. And this assumes an optimal ethanol production, no yeast growth. It also assumes that yeast and other nutrients are for free. It also does not take into account the (small) investment of the equipment. It does not take into account the energy needed for distillation.

 

And as already mentioned, you will not even get fuel-grade ethanol. Instead, you only get 95% ethanol... and the last water will stay in. You can only get that out with absorption (or some dirty chemical tricks you do not want to try at home). There are home-solutions for absorption, but it will only increase the price even more.

 

I think you are lucky to keep the actual price (including some investments, which have a payback time) below $10,00.

 

This is why the big scale industry does not buy sugar in the supermarket.

And this is why they do it at big scale. Bigger is cheaper.

 

p.s. Please watch out with the distillation of ethanol! The vapors can burn or even explode when in contact with air.