"jim" k wrote in message
...
Jethro_uk Wrote in message:
On Sun, 01 Oct 2017 16:50:37 +0000, Huge wrote:

On 2017-10-01, jim k wrote:
Jethro_uk Wrote in message:
On Sun, 01 Oct 2017 03:40:15 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwmfBp3U2Os

FWIW, there is a *lot* of real-science work being done on this. The
holy grail being able to directly ferment cellulose (e.g. grass) into
ethanol,
and thence be able to power ourselves by grass clippings.

The current sticking point is that the chain of biology involved is
leisurely at best. My brother was working on supercomputer simulations
to try and devise better molecules, but there appears to be some sort
of biological "master clock" which limits the rates of reactions.
(Interestingly this is the same factor in doctors starting to
understand why different people react differently to the same drugs
...)

Annoyingly, it's very hard to get all the water out of ethanol/water
due to the boiling point of the mixture being slightly lower than the
boiling point of water (96C IIRC). Azoetrope IIRC again ....

Doesn't distillation work? Ethanol boils at c78 deg C?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotrope




Does freezing not work either?

Nope, not to get the last of the water out of the ethanol.

What the industry calls absolute alcohol, as close as you
can get economically to just ethanol, uses benzene to get
the last of the water out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol#Purification