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Author: Subject: question about ethanol synthesis
12AX7
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[*] posted on 1-8-2005 at 02:53


Quote:
Originally posted by sparkgap
Not everyone has yeast.


Bollocks, you're hard pressed to find anywhere on Earth that doesn't have yeast! Just open the window. ;)

If you want a good starter yeast, Google for how to prepare some for breakmaking. I know food.com has at least something. Plus you have yeast individual to your location, so it's more unique than store bought yeast. ;)

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P.S. Oh, just look at that nice row of stars... sweet. :D Post # 500!


Congrats, one of us spammers\\\\big posters now. :D :P ;) :)

Tim




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sparkgap
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[*] posted on 1-8-2005 at 03:22


I guess I should rephrase that to "not everyone can buy a nice clump of S. cerevisiae in their local shops". :D :P

But you're right, there's more than enough yeast to go around on Earth.

sparky (~_~)

P.S. You're newer, but you became an I.H. first. Hmm... ;)




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Organikum
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[*] posted on 1-8-2005 at 05:54


Quote:

My neighbour runs an environment firm which take taxes from firms which pollute the air or water with toxic or harmfull materials. Now he also take different kinds of plastics - he take money for waste disposal, nowadays he take 10tons of poliethylene a month but he can take even several times more. He earns 15groszy (5 american cents or 4euro-cents) for every kilogram of PE and he doesn't know what to do with theese plastics - they just lie in magazine. I talked with him and suggested starting making ethanol - firstly test it in lab-scale, then run little production, end if that would give money , build a factory

Quote:

Polyethylene usually degrades by random scission - that is by a random breakage of the linkages (bonds) that hold the atoms of the polymer together. When this polymer is heated above 450 Celsius it becomes a complex mixture of molecules of various sizes which resemble gasoline.

I suppose thats the answer, gasoline instead of ethanol.




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12AX7
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[*] posted on 1-8-2005 at 08:44


Quote:
Originally posted by Organikum
Quote:

Polyethylene usually degrades by random scission - that is by a random breakage of the linkages (bonds) that hold the atoms of the polymer together. When this polymer is heated above 450 Celsius it becomes a complex mixture of molecules of various sizes which resemble gasoline.

I suppose thats the answer, gasoline instead of ethanol.


Heck, add a catalyst (I forget what?) and get all sorts of useful fuel gasses, solvents, oils and -enes from free milk jugs!

Tim




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[*] posted on 2-8-2005 at 07:15


Ethylene glycol with dimethylterephthalate to get ethanol as one of the products, anyone??
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sparkgap
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[*] posted on 2-8-2005 at 09:14


Am I missing something, or have you found a way to turn terephthalate and glycol into ethanol? You wouldn't mind telling us, 'no? :D

sparky (~_~)

[Edited on 2-8-2005 by sparkgap]




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[*] posted on 2-8-2005 at 10:21


PETE is dehydration or transesterification, in the latter case methanol (a mono-ol), or ethanol would work for that matter, is replaced by ethyl-diol.

Which reminds me, I was thinking earlier today, since EtOH can be dehydrated to ethyl ether, couldn't ethylene glycol be dimer/etherized to di-(ethyl-2-ol) ether and/or polymerized further?

Tim




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sparkgap
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[*] posted on 2-8-2005 at 11:25


Actually, it's oxirane (ethylene oxide, oxacyclopropane) that's used for that purpose. That's where you get diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, and all those nice grown... err, "crown" ethers. :)

sparky (~_~)

[Edited on 2-8-2005 by sparkgap]




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[*] posted on 2-8-2005 at 11:59


You get dioxane from ethylene glycol that way.
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[*] posted on 2-8-2005 at 13:39


Probably just easier to distill it or buy cheap liquors, but getting the water out for absolute/anhydrous alchohol is troublesome.
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[*] posted on 2-8-2005 at 14:57


Slightly off-topic but...

Has anyone tried obtaining methanol from wood? It is one of the by products from the charcoaling process.
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[*] posted on 2-8-2005 at 20:43


Yeah, but you also get other condensates besides methanol. Still, if you have access to a 55 gallon drum, some piping, and a welder one could easily make a retort. Hmm, methanol while charcoaling for a cupola/furnace (or for your BBQ).
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[*] posted on 3-8-2005 at 00:04


Should be all sorts of interesting aromatics, tars and whatnot, too. Plus terpenes with sappy pine. Psst, pine charcoal burns good in pyrotechnia ;)

Tim




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[*] posted on 3-8-2005 at 05:53


Quote:
[quoteYou wouldn't mind telling us, 'no? :D

sparky (~_~)



Not that i do not want to tell. I myself am not so sure about it.
But this is what i think it will look like:
(CH2OH)2 + C6H4(COOCH3)2 --> ethylene terephthalate + ethanol
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