Industrial Alcohol: Uses, Production Processes and Trends

Uses of Industrial Alcohol

Industrial alcohol has a wide variety of applications across many industries. Some of its major uses are:

Fuel Production
Industrial alcohol is commonly used in the production of fuels such as gasohol, which is a blend of gasoline and ethanol. Ethanol contains oxygen that helps gasoline burn cleaner. As concerns about fossil fuel dependence and air pollution increase, ethanol is seeing more use as a gasoline additive or replacement.

Chemical Production
Alcohol is used as a raw material and solvent in the chemical industry. It acts as an antifreeze in coolants, solvent in paints and lacquers, and precursor to other organic compounds. Industries like pharmaceuticals rely on industrial alcohol to produce medications, drugs and other products.

Personal Care Products
Ethanol serves as an emollient, solvent and preservative in cosmetics, fragrances, mouthwashes and hand sanitizers. Its ability to dissolve oils and kill microbes make it suitable for use in personal care items.

Industrial Processes
Processes like sterilization, cleaning and materials processing use industrial alcohol as a disinfectant or solvent. It helps clean surfaces in food manufacturing equipment and disinfect medical instruments.

Production of Industrial Alcohol

Industrial alcohol is mainly produced from agricultural feedstocks like grains, sugarcane and cellulosic biomass through fermentation and distillation processes.

Fermentation
Starchy or sugary plant matter such as corn or sugarcane is mashed to extract fermentable sugars. Yeast is then added to convert the sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide through anaerobic respiration.

Distillation
The fermented mash is distilled to separate and purify the alcohol from other dissolved compounds and biomass. Continuous or batch distillation systems are used to thermally fractionate the vapor-liquid mixture based on boiling points, yielding 95.6% anhydrous ethanol.

Further Purification
Additional purification steps may be performed on distilled alcohol if very high purity is required. These include dehydration to produce absolute or 100% ethanol, and molecular sieves or azeotropic distillation to remove trace water content.

Trends in Industrial Alcohol Production and Use

With growing environmental and sustainability concerns globally, renewable sources of industrial alcohol like corn and sugarcane are becoming more popular. Cellulosic ethanol derived from agricultural residues or fast-growing plants also holds promise.

Rising demands from chemical, fuel and consumer goods industries are driving capacity expansions at alcohol plants. Companies are investing in advanced distillation and fermentation technologies to increase yields and lower production costs.

International trade of industrial alcohol is also on the rise. Regional deficits and surpluses are balanced through exports and imports between major producers and consumers worldwide. Developing economies represent new markets for industrial alcohol suppliers.

Biofuel mandates and blending targets adopted by various countries to reduce vehicle emissions and oil dependency have boosted ethanol consumption substantially. However, some argue that using prime farmland to grow corn for fuel negatively impacts global food security. Overall, industrial alcohol will continue playing a significant role in industry and transportation as long as current trends persist.