Alcohol production is one of the oldest art to have been started by man. In this process, yeast, the world’s most heavily used microbe, converts sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide. The ethanol content in practice 10 – 13% is then concentrated.
Yeast, a facultative anaerobe, and in a situation of insufficient oxygen with substrate (cane molasses) level exceeding 0.1% w/v ferments the sugars to ethanol. Yeast under these conditions will use the glycoltic pathway to breakdown the sugars into energy and intermediates that are required for growth with the final products being ethanol and CO2.
ACFC applies the continuous fermentation for its ethanol production. The Alcohol content after fermentation is normally 10 – 13%. This alcohol in the form of mash which is a mixture of alcohol, water, yeast cells and other minor constituents taken through a series of separators to remove the yeast.
The separated alcohol-rich mash is taken to the distillery where unwanted constituents are removed and the ethanol concentrated to the required achievable purity.
At the distillation tower the mash is physically separated into various products, the ethanol content is concentrated to over 94% and the quality of the ethanol purified to acceptable standards.
