Ethanol is one of the cornerstones of pharmaceutical manufacturing, used as a solvent during drug production as well as being an integral component of alcohol beverages like vodka and whisky. Produced through yeast fermentation of sugar or carbohydrates, ethanol has an intoxicating quality which may cause changes to mood, behaviour or even cause health complications within humans.
Alcohol distillation is one of the oldest industrial production processes and still plays an essential role today. Distillation involves heating a mixture until boiling point, then condensing its vapor back into liquid form by cooling. As a result, its product tends to be highly pure and highly concentrated – an invaluable quality in the pharmaceutical industry for isolating components from complex mixtures.
Many immiscible substances will form azeotropes, or mixtures of two liquids with lower boiling points than their respective pure components, commonly referred to as fusel oils and breakable via distillation. A distillation set-up involving decanters equipped with reflux condensers overhead allows two layers to be separated before feeding only one into the distillation apparatus for extraction.
Fractional distillation systems can help labs achieve sustainability objectives more easily, as they reduce both the volume of new solvent consumed in their laboratories and waste containers it requires transport in. Reusing solvent also lowers cooling energy usage for distillate vaporization thereby saving money on power bills.