• At a glance
• Who we are
  • Our Vision
  • Organization
  • Our People
  • Shareholder
  • Nedalco's history
• What we do
  • Nedalco worldwide
  • Fuel ethanol
  • Traditional alcohol
  • Yeast technology
  • Safety, Health & Environment
  • Production Process
  • Quality Assurance
  • REACH

Production Process

Ethanol has been produced since ancient times by fermenting sugars. All ethanol used in beverages and fuel and more than 50% of the industrial ethanol is still produced using this process.
In contrast, synthetic ethanol is the result of synthetic processes such as the catalytic hydration of ethylene, the sulfuric acid hydration of ethylene and the Fischer-Tropsch process in which ethanol is a major by-product of the synthesis of methanol. While synthetic ethanol is chemically identical to fermentation ethanol, it does not qualify for blending with gasoline and may not be used in the production of alcoholic beverages.

The Nedalco production process
Nedalco produces high-quality natural alcohol.

Raw materials
Natural alcohol is produced by fermenting produce such as molasses, grains and potatoes that contain sugars or starch. Nedalco uses both molasses and wheat for its alcohol production. Molasses is a sugar-containing syrup that is a residual product from the process of manufacturing sugar from sugar beets or sugar cane. Wheat starch is the other key raw material used for the production of grain alcohol. Prior to being fermented, the starch is transformed into glucose with the aid of enzymes.

Fermentation
Using yeast, a living organism, the sugar is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide in large fermenting barrels. Within approximately nine hours, all the sugars have been transformed and the alcohol content in the fermenting barrels reaches approximately 10.0% alcohol by volume. This so-called mash is then transferred to large centrifuges, i.e. the separation barrels, in which the yeast is separated from the mash. Most of the yeast is returned to the fermenting barrels to continue the conversion process.

Distillation
The yeast-free mash is distilled and condensed to obtain the alcohol. The condensate contains water and all volatile components (raw alcohol). Vinasse is left after the alcohol has been removed and the mash has been concentrated further. It is stored in tanks and sold to the feed industry as a component of livestock feed.

Purification and rectification
The raw alcohol obtained from the top of the distiller/condenser contains approximately 45% alcohol by volume and still has many impurities. These impurities are removed during the rectification phase until pure alcohol with at least 96% alcohol by volume is obtained. The rectification equipment consists of a large number of distillation columns that are connected in a certain manner to produce the highest possible quality of alcohol at a low energy cost.