Ethanol Production: Processes, Uses and Renewability

The video explores the production of ethanol and its various uses. It starts by discussing the importance of ethanol as a clean-burning fuel and a widely used industrial solvent. The video then explores different ways of producing ethanol, including a non-renewable method that uses ethene sourced from crude oil and a renewable method that involves the fermentation of sugar solutions and yeast. The process of fermentation is explained in detail, along with the conditions required to prevent the oxidation of ethanol to ethanoic acid. The video also discusses the process of fractional distillation, which is used to increase the concentration of ethanol in solution. Finally, the video concludes with a discussion of the limitations of using ethanol as a fuel and the potential of butanol as an alternative.