Biodiesel ethanol and ethanoate/ production of ethanol

Advantages of production of ethanol through enzymes

• they are specific (only catalyse one type of reaction at a time)

• operate at a specific temperature and ph - saves energy and costs as high temp and pressure is not requires

• biodegradable - less environmental pollution

Disadvantages of production of ethanol by use of enzymes

• sensitive to changes in temperature and pH- conditions must be tightly controlled

• other chemicals can change the structure of the enzyme causing them to lose their function

• expensive to produce

• usually aqueous in solution - difficult to separate products from the reaction mixture

what are the two ways ethanol can be produced?

• by the acid catalyzed addition of water to ethene (ethylene)

• synthesis by fermentation

Synthesis by fermentation

• uses yeast that produces enzymes capable of catalysing the conversion of biomass

• consists of 2 chemical reaction

• 1. Hydrolysis of sucrose to glucose/fructose using the enzyme Invertase

• 2. fermentation of glucose/fructose to ethanol using the yeast enzyme zymase as a catalyst

production using acid catalyst

Production of ethanol comparison table