Ethanol

Chemical structure of ethanol

Ethanol is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula C₂H₆O. Ethanol is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with a characteristic wine-like odor and pungent taste. It is a psychoactive recreational drug, the active ingredient in alcoholic drinks.

Ethanol is naturally produced by the fermentation process of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration. Historically it was used as a general anesthetic, and has modern medical applications as an antiseptic, disinfectant, solvent for some medications, and antidote for methanol poisoning and ethylene glycol poisoning. It is used as a chemical solvent and in the synthesis of organic compounds, and as a fuel source. Ethanol also can be dehydrated to make ethylene, an important chemical feedstock.

Crafting instructions

The simplest way to get ethanol is by fermentation:

• Take some watertight, closable vessel and fill it with a mixture of sugar and water. For sugar, you can use ripe fruits, honey or other natural sugars like processed sugar cane or sugar beets.
• Add yeasts or yeast-rich substances (like unwashed fruit or vegetables), the more the better
• Close up the vessel while making sure air using something like an airlock can escape since the metabolism of yeast produces gases like CO₂. You can also ferment in an open container, just make sure it stays clean
• Wait for a few weeks

By now, you should have a weak solution of ethanol, methanol and other fermentation byproducts. How much of methanol you get will depend on the levels of pectin in your source mix. To get to concentrations useful outside of intoxication, a distillation step is required. Be aware that simply distilling this solution will also concentrate the methanol. To separate it, take note of your distillation temperature and swap your target vessel at around 78°C. Around this temperature, distillation shoud also slow down and the temperature should be raising quite fast. Keep the temperature below 90°C to avoid large amounts of water in your distillation product.

You can quickly detect high levels of methanol by lighting a bit of your product on fire: While Ethanol should burn blue, Methanol will burn yellow. For a more precise test, mix a sodium dicromate solution into your product. If it smells pungent and irritating, methanol is present.

To get to disinfectant, the wash should be distilled to a purity of around 70% by volume. This is because Ethanol depends on water molecules for its antimicrobial properties. Distilling to a certain concentration without meters is difficult, but to approximately get to 70% ABV, you can try igniting a bit of your product. It should burn with a steady, blue flame. You should not have difficulties lighting it, but it also shouldn't burn quickly in a flash. For more exact measurements, use a Hydrometer.

Dependencies

• Carbon
• Hydrogen
• Oxygen
  • Ethanol

See also

• Ammonia
• Boric acid
• Carbon dioxide
• Cyanide
• Methane
• Methanol
• Nitric acid
• Nitroglycerin
• Saltpeter
• Sulfuric acid
• Water
• Chemical compounds

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Ethanol, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).