Renewable Ethanol

Production of Materials‎ > ‎

Other resources, such as ethanol, are readily available from renewable resources such as plants

Students learn to:

• describe the dehydration of ethanol to ethylene and identify the need for a catalyst in this process and the catalyst used
• describe the addition of water to ethylene resulting in the production of ethanol and identify the need for a catalyst in this process and the catalyst used
• describe and account for the many uses of ethanol as a solvent for polar and non-polar substances
• outline the use of ethanol as a fuel and explain why it can be called a renewable resource
• describe conditions under which fermentation of sugars is lpromoted
• summarise the chemistry of the fermentation process
• define the molar heat of combustion of a compound and calculate the value for ethanol from first-hand data
• assess the potential of ethanol as an alternative fuel and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of its use
• identify the IUPAC nomenclature for straight-chained alkanols from C1 to C8

Students:

• process information from secondary sources such as molecular model kits, digital technologies or computer simulations to model:
  • the addition of water to ethylene
  • the dehydration of ethanol

• process information from secondary sources to summarise the processes involved in the industrial production of ethanol from sugar cane

• process information from secondary sources to summarise the use of ethanol as an alternative car fuel, evaluating the success of current usage

• solve problems, plan and perform a first-hand investigation to carry out the fermentation of glucose and monitor mass changes

• present information from secondary sources by writing a balanced equation for the fermentation of glucose to ethanol

• identify data sources, choose resources and perform a first-hand investigation to determine and compare heats of combustion of at least three liquid alkanols per gram and per mole

Extract from Chemistry Stage 6 Syllabus (Amended October 2002). © 2009, Board of Studies NSW.