Bio-ethanol: characteristics and worldwide potential
1.1. Ethanol and its characteristics
Ethanol or ethyl alcohol (CH3CH2OH) is a colorless, volatile and
flammable liquid, with molecular weight of 46.07 g and density of
789 kg/m3 at 294 K. Thermal properties are given in Table 1.
It burns with a smokeless blue flame, generally invisible in
normal light.
The auto-ignition temperature is the lowest temperature at
which ethanol will spontaneously ignite in a normal atmosphere
without an external source of ignition, such as a flame or spark.
Mixtures of water and ethanol are important throughout the
bio-ethanol process. The knowledge of mixture flash points, as
presented in Fig. 1, is needed for their safe handling, storage and
transportation: the flash point is one of the most important physical
properties used to determine the potential for fire and explosion
hazards of liquids, used for the classification and labeling of
dangerous substances and preparations. The flash point of a given
liquid is the experimentally determined temperature adjusted to
standard temperature and pressure at which a substance emits
sufficient vapor to form a combustible mixture with air. A lower
flash point value indicates that a given liquid is more hazardous
relative to a different liquid with a higher value.
The physical properties of ethanol result from the presence of
both the hydroxyl group and the shortness of the carbon chain. The
hydroxyl group is prone to hydrogen bonding, making ethanol more viscous and less polar than organic compounds of similar
molecular weight. Ethanol is moreover miscible with water
(unlike > C3 alcohol) and with many organic solvents, e.g. acetic
acid, acetone, ether, ethylene glycol, glycerol, and toluene [1,2]. It is
also miscible with light aliphatic liquids, such as C5H12 and C6H14,
and with chlorinated aliphatics such as CH3CCl3 and Cl2CHeCHCl2
[2]. Mixing ethanol and water is slightly exothermic, releasing
~0.78 kJ/mol [3] at 298 K. Mixtures of ethanol and water at atmospheric
pressure form an azeotrope of ~89 mol% ethanol and
~11 mol% water [4] at a temperature of 351 K. This azeotropic
behavior is a pronounced function of temperature and pressure and
vanishes at temperatures below 303 K or pressures below about
10 mbar [5]