The Hindu Business Line : A different process

Ethanol production essentially involves fermentation of the sucrose (sugar) present in cane. Sugarcane crushed by mills has around 12 per cent sucrose, of which 10 per cent is recovered in sugar production, with the remaining 2 per cent going into molasses (a by-product).

Molasses, in turn, contains about 45 per cent sucrose. One kg kilogram of sucrose can theoretically give 0.644 litres of ethanol (almost 100 per cent pure or `anhydrous' alcohol), which, after accounting for 88 per cent fermentation efficiency and 98 per cent distillation, yields 0.555 litres of alcohol. Thus, if a sugar mill were to crush 100 tonnes of sugarcane, it would obtain 10 tonnes of sugar and about 1,110 litres of alcohol by processing 4.5 tonnes of molasses. But if the juice from cane were used to directly produce alcohol, so that the entire 12 tonnes of sucrose is fermented, almost 6,665 litres of alcohol would be generated.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Monsoon onset window extended to next six days

EPFO awaits norms to invest in equity markets

DoT asks Tatas to put EVDO plans on hold

Dishman to buy Swiss co Solutia's unit

Reliance eyes cane processing

A different process

Maran for extension of STP scheme

Q1 Indian retail investment in gold up

Sensex sheds 250 points

FIIs vs MFs on the Sensex front

FIIs record $1.13 b sales in May

Few takers

Many IPO stocks reel under double-whammy