Alcohol Processing Equipments

The making of alcohol is a science and art. Getting maximum yield depends on the conversion of starch feed stock into sugars and then adding the exact amount of yeast for a time and temperature controlled fermentation process followed by finely controlled distillation to yield alcohol. Commercial production naturally calls for use of automated alcohol processing equipments, from preparing the mash to final output of alcohol. The entire line could include choppers and grinding equipments, testing equipments to test for starch content, sugar content, fermentation level, proofing, pH and other factors related to alcohol production, batch mixing systems with starter vessels, storage tanks with tank management, pumps, blending systems, distillation equipments and filtration along with product tracing for accounting and quality control.

With increasing use of alcohol as fuel additive, from 2 billion gallons in 2002 to four times that amount today, farms find it increasingly profitable to install small yet fully automated alcohol processing equipments using sugarcane, wheat or corn as feed stock, in a straight forward process. However, if alcohol is to be used as additive for gasoline, it needs to be further distilled to remove water component and one of the critical components of alcohol processing equipments is the continuous feed fractional distillation column. Alcohol and water vapor flow through the column and alcohol is separated. Another option is the use of centrifugal technique to separate pure alcohol from water. The final alcohol so obtained is 95% pure suitable for use as additive for gasoline. As worldwide demand for alcohol as fuel additive grows, there will be more demand for alcohol processing equipments, both on large scale and a size suited for small farms.