Production of Ethanol
Fermentation Vs Hydration
Ethanol, C2H5OH, is an alcohol produced industrially with many uses. Some of these include being used largely in the production of alcoholic beverages, cosmetics, antiseptics, drugs, inks, detergents and in solvents, and more over, it is very essential when mixed with petrol to make a bio-fuel, when made using renewable sources via fermentation. Ethanol can be produced by a number of ways, and in industry, it is made by the hydration of crude oil, or the fermentation of sugar.
In the Hydration method, Crude oil, in this case – Ethene, as a natural gas – is essentially hydrated, meaning, water is added and Ethanol is the product of this reaction. Ethene, C2H4, is produced when crude oil is cracked, after being collected through the fractional distillation of fossil fuels that have been burnt. Water, H2O, is then reacted with the Ethene under a high temperature (approx 300oC) and a high pressure (60atm). Below is an equation of this reaction:
CH2=CH2 (g) + H2O (g) → C2H5OH (l)
As you can see, there is a double bond between the two molecules of CH2 in the Ethene. When Hydration occurs, the water added converts this double bond to Ethanol, which is the only product of this reaction.
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Peer Reviews
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Quality of writing
The author’s spelling, grammar and punctuation is very good throughout, and they have followed scientific conventions and used appropriate vocabulary. They have used a table to display their conclusions more clearly, although the accompanying text could have been better organised into sections with clear headings to make it easier to read. However, as the coursework is fairly short this isn’t too much of an issue.
Level of analysis
The author has gone into some detail of the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods, although they could have expanded on their explanations in places. They have presented a summary of the advantages and disadvantages in a easily understandable table, which clearly compares the two methods. However, in places they haven’t shown much understanding of the underlying chemistry, for example they say: “the water added converts this double bond to Ethanol†when in fact the water breaks the bond and forms new bonds with the molecule. The bond itself has not been magically changed into Ethanol! They have used their information to come to a conclusion, although it would have been better to explain in more detail the advantages and disadvantages of each method in order to compare the two in more depth.
Response to question
The author has written a good essay comparing the two main methods of producing ethanol. They have provided a balanced argument and come to a fairly well reasoned conclusion. However, I would have given a more thorough analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods, for example by explaining the issues of using crops as a source of ethanol (This requires a lot of land, and there are concerns that farmers will grow crops for the production of ethanol rather than food, leading to food shortages in poorer countries, to give but one example). The author has also provided background information about the various uses of ethanol, which aids the reader’s understanding of the importance of this topic.
