CPI REPORT

FERMENTATION
CH-049
CH-301
CH-078
CH-088
CONTENT:
1. History
2. Processes of Ethanol Production
 Dry milling
 Wet milling
 By molasses

3. Advantages and disadvantages of the processes

4. Molasses
5. Preparation of molasses
6. Uses of molasses
7. Ethanol production from molasses (description)
8. Ethanol industries in Pakistan
9. Grades of Ethanol
10.Distilleries of Pakistan
11.Economics
12.References
 FERMENTATION
INTRODUTION:
In this report we will be discussing the processes through which ethanol is prepared. The
process of ethanol by molasses will be discussed in detail and will be given prior
importance as it is practiced in Pakistan. Moreover, an overview on the statistics and
different industries will also be taken into account.

HISTORY:
The chemistry of fermentation was first investigated by LOUIS PASTEUR in 1860. He
called the process la vie sans air(life without air).
DEFINITION:
Fermentation is generally defined as the overall activity of the microrganism cultivation
or to further elaborate it can be said that fermentation is the anaerobic evolution of CO 2
from microgranisms going on energy rich nutrients to form organic acids.

PROCESSES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL:

The processes that can be used for the production of ethanol are as follows:
 Dry milling process
 Wet milling process
 By using Molasses

Dry milling and wet milling processes are used internationally; the basic difference
between the two is the initial treatment of the grain.
The production of ethanol from molasses is done in Pakistan.

DRY MILLING PROCEDURE:

CORN CLEANING:
Shelled corn arrives at facility and is accepted through quality check procedures.
HAMMER MILLS:
The corn will first pass through the hammer mills which grind it to fine powder called the
‘meal.’
MIXER:
This corn meal is then mixed with fresh water in known ratios to form a slurry.
LIQUEFICATION:
In liquefication an alpha amylase enzyme is added to facilitate the hydrolysis of
cornstarch to dextrin(long chain sugars) producing mash.
MASH TREATMENT:
The mash is then cooked to kill any contaminating bacteria. The mash is then cooled and
sent to fermentation vessel.
FERMENTATION VESSEL:
In fermentation vessel glycoamylase enzyme is added that converts the dextrin into
simple sugar dextrose. Then yeast species are used which metabolically convert the
dextrose into ethanol and carbondioxide. Carbondioxide gas is evolved.
DISTILLATION COLUMN:
In the fermentation vessel we were left with corn protein, water, ethanol etc; which is
then taken to the distillation column to get ethanol.

CORN

CORN
CLEANING ALPHA AMYLASE ENZYME

HAMMER MIX LIQUEFICATION

MILLS SLURRY

CO2 COOKER

DISTILLATION FERMENTATION
F

ADVANTAGES:

SIMPLEST PROCESS:
This process doesn’t carry any complexions as it only requires the grinded meal to
process further unlike other processes.
LESS EQUIPMENT:
This process doesn’t require much machinery.
WET MILLING PROCESS:
The first step i.e. corn cleaning remains same as the dry milling.

STEEP MILLING:
The grain is soaked or steeped in water and dilute SO2 solution for 24 to 48 hours. This
steeping facilitates the separation of the grain into its many component parts.
The steeping liquor is concentrated in an evaporator to give condensed fermented
extractives.
GERM SEPARATION:
After steeping, the corn slurry is processed through series of grinders to separate the corn
germ, which is then sent to the germ extraction to give the corn oil. The remaining
portion of the germ, corn germ meal, is collected for feed use.
WASHING SCREENS:
The slurry now contains starch, fibre and gluten protein. In screening, the fibre is
removed and rest of the components pass through the screens. The fibre is combined with
other co-products stream to produce corn gluten feed.
CENTRIFUGAL SEPARATORS:
In centrifugal separators, the lighter gluten protein floats at the top where as the starch
being heavy settles at the bottom. The gluten protein is then concentrated and dried to
form corn gluten meal.
WASHING AND DRYING:
Some of the starch is then washed and dried and marketed to the food, paper, textile etc
industries. The remaining starch can pe produced into sweeteners or ethanol.

Condensed Corn Fermented Extractives or Corn Steep Liquor is a high-energy

liquid feed ingredient. The protein value analyzes at 25% on a 50% solids basis.
This product is sometimes combined with the corn gluten feed or may be sold
separately as a liquid protein source for beef or dairy rations.
Corn Germ Meal typically analyzes at 20% protein, 2% fat, and 9.5% fiber. It
has an amino acid balance that makes it valuable in poultry.
Corn Gluten Feed is a medium protein ingredient composed of the bran and
fibrous portions.
Corn Gluten Meal is a high protein concentrate typically supplied at a 60%
protein, 2.5% fat and 1% fiber. It is a valuable source of methionine.
ADVANTAGES:

VALUABLE PRODUCTS:
It gives us valuable co-products such as corn oil and other feeds.

DISADVANTAGES:

EQUIPMENT:
The machinery employed is very expensive.
USAGE OF SO2:
SO2 is hazardous and it is the primary element used for soaking which makes our process
complex.

ETHANOL FROM MOLASSES:

ADVANTAGES:

FERMENTATION YIELD:
It gives the highest fermentation yield
DISADVANTAGES:

IMPURITIES:
It has various impurities within as those introduced during sugar production.
STORAGE:
It can undergo chemical/physical change in storage.

MOLASSES
WHAT IS MOLASSES?

Molasses is the mother liquor left after the crystallization of sugarcane juice. It is a dark
colored viscous liquid. Molasses contains about 60% fermentable sugar.

SOURCES OF MOLASSES

The main source for molasses is the sugarcane plant. However other sugar sources can be
used such as beet roots, grapes, and sorghum.

STEPS FOR PREPARATION OF MOLASSES

Sugarcane Grinding
Juice Extraction
Clarifying
Evaporation
Crystallization
Centrifugation

1. Sugarcane Grinding

The sugarcane crop is cut and then transported to the processing plant where the
sugarcane is weighed. The sugarcane is then unloaded to go through a grinding process.
This process uses various cane-cutter models. A consisted cane layer is obtained and
sweet juice is extracted by breaking the cane peel and fibers.

2. Juice Extraction

The prepared cane is run through a series of mills. Consisting in three horizontal grooved
rollers positioned to form a triangle, the mill is used to separate the solid matter from the
liquid matter. The juice is collected into the bottom part. This step required four to five
mills. Upon exiting the first mill, the crushed cane; now called bagasse, is collected and
transported to a second mill through a process called counter-flow imbibition. The uptake
or absorption of water by the solid substance without forming a solution is
called imbibition. The substances absorbing water are called imbibants. The bagasse is
used as a fuel for production line equipment.

3. Clarifying

The juice obtained from the previous process in then sent to the juice clarifying process.
Juice clarifying consists in heating the juice to 103°C in boilers and in adding lime. Lime
helps trigger a reaction speeding up the formation of a precipitate called mud at the
bottom of the settling tank. On the surface of mud, a clear juice is extracted and sent to
the evaporators. After being clarified and poured through vacuum rotating filters, the mud
is then washed of its sugar content. The non-sugar residue is used as an organic builder in
sugarcane fields.

4. Evaporation

The water is extracted from the cane juice through evaporation to obtain a high sugar
content syrup. This step is done in a series of low temperature evaporators so as to
prevent sucrose degradation occurring at high temperatures.

5. Crystallization

After boiling the syrup in boiling pans, the sugar content increases and the syrup reaches
a saturation point. Sucrose liquid molecules turn solid by crystallizing. After this process,
the crystals and concentrate syrup (mass cuite) mix is transferred to the centrifugation
process.

6. Centrifugation

This step consists in separating the solid matter from the liquid matter by separating the
crystals from the “mother liquor”. Mother liquor is the liquid that remains after a
substance has been crystallized out. The mass cuite is introduced in centrifugals that
separate the sugar crystals from the liquid that surrounds them by turning at a high speed.
This step produced solid sugar and a residue called molasses. After the fermentation
process, molasses can yield ethanol, rum or pure alcohol. The sugar, after being dried, is
weighed and packed intro bags.
USES OF MOLASSES

Molasses is used as an ingredient in food. Examples include cooking, rye bread and
molasses chews.
It is also used a principle ingredient in the distillation of rum.
It is used as an additive in livestock feed.
It is used as a source for yeast production.
It can be spread on fields as a potassic fertilizer.
It is used as a main ingredient in the production of citric acid.
It is used as a soil additive to promote microbial activity.
It is used in the production of ethanol as an alternative fuel for motor vehicles.

ETHANOL PRODUCTION FROM MOLASSES BY

FERMENTATION

Sugar industries produce molasses from the sugar cane processing. Molasses have 50

-55% concentration of sugar in the form of sucrose, with chemical formula C 12H22O11.
This source of compound is used for preparing ethyl alcohol. Ethanol in the form
of absolute, denaturized and rectified spirit can be made from molasses. Basis raw
materials for an industry to produce 1 ton of ethyl alcohol requires, molasses up to 5.6
tons. An anaerobic reaction will be performed for the formation of ethanol.

The chemical reactions involved for ethanol production from molasses:

Main reaction:

C12H22O11 + H2O → 2C6H12O6   (with enzyme invertase.)

C6H12O6 → 2C2H5OH + 2CO2  -31.2 KCal  (with enzyme zymase.)

Side reaction:

2C6H12O6 + H2O → ROH +RCHO (high molecular weight alcohols C2H5OH)

DESCRIPTION OF THE ETHANOL PRODUCTION PROCESS:

Large volume storage tanks of molasses provide continuous supply of molasses and store
the fresh molasses from sugar processing section during the fermentation process.
The molasses from the tanks are diluted with water to obtain the sugar concentration
around 10-15%. The acidic nature of molasses supports the growth of yeast during breaks
up of sucrose, for that purpose acids are added to maintain the pH between 4 and 5.
Continuous diluter equipment takes up this task. A yeast culture tank, which is provided
with nutrition supply of ammonium and magnesium phosphate or sulphate, is used as
nutrient to the yeast. The acidic condition favours the yeast to produce catalytic enzymes,
invertase and zymase.

Diluted and treated molasses and the yeast from storage are fed to the fermentation
chamber. Modern fermentation tanks are made with stainless steel material provided with
heating coils or jacket provision. The temperature 20-30 oC is maintained in the tanks by
the heating and cooling system. The process of fermentation takes place around 30-70
hours based on the temperature and sugar concentration to yeast count. 8 – 10%
concentrated ethanol is produced in the fermenter. Final temperature 35oC is attained at
the end of the process. During the fermentation process, microorganism yeast produces
carbon dioxide as by-product. Which will contain some amount of ethanol almost 1 -2%,
so CO2 is introduced in a scrubber where water is used as an scrubbing agent, which will
dissolve the ethanol from the CO2 and will be fed back to the diluter.

After the process cycle, the product liquid mixture is fed to beer still to perform

distillation. Solid and slurry mass is separated and we get 55 – 60% concentrated alcohol
and aldehydes. A series of beer still work out to produce different quality of beer
products. The slurry form of material obtained from bottom of beer still is called as slops.
It is used for cattle feed and fertilizer after some waste treatment operations.

However, the aldehydes are not allowed in consumable beer so aldehydes present in the
solution are removed by aldehyde column. The streams coming out at different section of
the column are aldehydes from top, fusel oil and ethanol mixture from middle and bottom
stream with water. The middle stream is fed to a decanter where the heavy molecular
weight alcohols are separated.

Then ethanol is fed to rectification column to produce a product called rectified spirit
having 95% ethanol. The denaturized alcohol is produced by adding a denaturant i.e. 10%
of methanol in 95% of ethanol. Rectified spirit (95% ethanol) further made to absolute
alcohol by anhydrous still using benzene as third component. Absolute alcohol with
100% ethanol concentration is a standard product used as intermediate for producing
other chemical products and blending agent in power fuels. The end use of the ethanol
would be largely in solvent, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, polyethylene and synthetic rubber
production.
CONCLUSION:
Ethanol is produced from molasses by the action of yeast, it is necessary to use less
concentrated molasses to carry out fermentation. After that a series of distillation
columns are used to purify the product. We can get product other than ethanol i.e.
biomass, which is used as cattle feed. We get 95% ethanol, denaturized ethanol and 100%
ethanol.
 ETHANOL FORMATION BY THE
FERMENTATION OF MOLASSES IN PAKISTAN
SUGAR INDUSTRIES OF PAKISTAN
Pakistan is the 5th largest country in terms of area under sugarcane cultivation, and 11th
by production. The sugar industry is the second largest agro-based industry in the
country, comprising 83 sugar mills with annual crushing capacity of over 6.1 million
tons.

GRADES OF ETHANOL
Several grades of ethyl alcohol are available in the marketplace today. They differ
primarily in the amount of impurities present. Generally, as you move down the chain to
a lower quality ethanol, higher amounts of impurities are present.

THE PUREST:
The highest level of ethanol purity is “GNS” or grain neutral spirits, beverage quality.
This is only domestically produced from fermentation grain sources, typically corn or
wheat. Based on the type of grain processed and the enzymes used to break starch down
to sugar, different quantities and types of impurities are produced.

PURER:
“FCC Grade” ethanol (Food Chemical Codex) adds heavy metal specification limits to
the grades below since most FCC grade materials are used in food applications. This can
be either of fermentation or synthetic origin.

PURE:
“Industrial Grade” ethanol can be of either fermentation or synthetic origin. It has most of
the impurities removed. “USP Grade” ethanol (U.S. Pharmacopoeia) has specific tests
that measure impurities present, setting limits on each type. “NF Grade” ethanol
(National Formulary) lowers the amount of impurities further to the 20 to 25 ppm levels.

NOT-AS-PURE:
The highest impurity levels are found in “fuel grade” ethanol that is produced via the
fermentation process. It is added to gasoline as an octane enhancer/extender and to reduce
carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide pollution. Manufacturers of this grade don’t take
great care in removing the impurities produced in the process because they “burn” easily
in a combustion engine.

Distilleries in Pakistan are producing all three grades of ethanol — anhydrous (fuel
grade) having 99.97 per cent purity, ENA (extra neutral alcohol) with 96.50 per cent
purity, and industrial alcohol (B grade) with 92 percent purity of ethanol.

DISTILLERIES OF PAKISTAN
In Pakistan presently 16 distilleries are in operation with installed alcohol production
capacity of 506.33 million liters which require around 1.687 million tons molasses.

HABIB SUGAR MILLS LIMITED:

Habib Sugar Mills Limited was incorporated as a Public Limited Company in 1962 with
its Head Office in Karachi and its plant located at NawabshahPresent capacity / capability
of the mill is 7000 tons of sugarcane crushing per day out of whichOver 140,000 liters of
ethanol is produced per day that is Exported to Europe for various purposes which
include pharmaceuticals and petroleum.

Manufacturing process:Double Carbonation Double Sulphitation (D.C.D.S) to Defecation

Remelt Carbonation Sulphitation (D.R.C.S.)

UNICOL LIMITED:
THE Hasham Group of Companies is in the sugar, molasses and ethanol businesses. It
has stakes in a high-tech company, Unicol, which converts low-priced molasses into
high-value ethanol (alcohol), for exports.

The Unicoldistillery having a capacity to produce 200,000 liters per day of ethanol is
jointly owned by three sugar mills: Mehran, Faran and Mirpurkhas.The preference for the
joint venture is that a huge quantity of molasses is needed for conversion. For producing
one ton of ethanol, five tons of molasses are required.

ECONOMICS
At production costs of US$ 0.1452/liter, Pakistan is closer to Brazil’s, production costs of
US$ 0.1355/l, The rising trend in oil prices is gradually shifting the economic balance
favorably towards bio-fuel manufacture In PAKISTAN, As a result of the conversion of
molasses into ethanol, molasses exports during 2012-13 dipped to 352,000 tons and
earned $40 million, at an average price of $110-115 per ton.Molasses exports during
2013-14 are expected to go further down to 100,000 tons only. Against this, ethanol
exports during 2013-14 are being forecasted by the industry to be between 450,000-
500,000 tons, and earn around $425 million.

REFERENCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses

http://www.somdiaa.com/en/our-skills/transformation/sugar-manufacturing/

http://agmrc.org/media/cms/EthanolPaperRev_049574599F3A9.pdf

http://www.distillersgrains.org/files/grains/k.davis--dry&wetmillprocessing.pdf