> chemistry > alcools > from-sugar-to-anhydrous-ethanol-elementalmaker

How to Make Anhydrous Ethanol From Table Sugar! - ElementalMaker

ElementalMaker - 2019-05-20

The entire process from table sugar to anhydrous ethanol. 

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Video on building the still: https://youtu.be/RivGP18wpY4 

Before building or operating a still, you must look into all local and federal regulations, and obtain any necessary permits or regulations.

BILLY - 2019-05-21

If you mix it with orange juice and send it through the human system the body will separate all the alcohol out

GRBTutorials - 2020-03-19

And convert it to acetic acid...

J H - 2020-03-24

But thats just water hes distilling... Wink wink nudge nudge

Stephen Villano - 2020-04-07

@J H purifying the water by removing the contaminants, one being particularly toxic, segregated in a container marked ethnol. One does want to properly label one's toxins... ;)

Black turbine - 2020-05-12

No officer I'm not drunk
I am just distilling some ethanol tjats all hic

Nunya Business - 2020-10-12

Add baking soda and potassium permanganate at the end wait a week or two it will clump up filter it distille it it taste like nothing

unusual fabrication - 2019-05-20

AvE but chemistry

Andrii Poturai - 2020-03-29

It is not a chemistry. It's idiotism

TangerineTaylor - 2020-04-19

Keeping dicks in a vice

jack delang - 2020-09-11

AvE - the evil genius hiding out in the wilderness in 'Canadia' you mean???

stamasd - 2019-05-18

I personally find that Everclear or equivalent store-bought grain ethanol is sufficiently pure for most of my chemistry needs - and if I need it drier, I let it sit over cheap&crappy Chinese zeolites for a while. This way the tax man gets paid and lots of time is saved. I'm not saying that a distillation setup doesn't have other uses, props for fixing it.
(edit) one idea for getting a higher purity straight form the initial distillation would be to make a dehydration column and place it in series with the condenser. Just pack a glass tube with anhydrous copper sulfate between 2 porous plugs (cotton balls should do) and connect that right at the output of the condenser. The condensate passes directly through the column, gets the azeotropic water sucked from it and turns the CuSO4 blue progressively as it does so. When the blue line gets close to the other end of the column you know the column capacity is nearly full and needs to be exchanged.
A quick back-of-the-napkin calculation says that you can pack about 20g anhydrous copper sulfate (allowing for volume expansion as it hydrates) in a 5mm glass tube, 50cm long - and that would be enough to dehydrate about 100ml of distillate. Thicker tubes would allow for more copper sulfate - e.g. 10mm would pack 80g and so on.

Matthew Wilson - 2019-05-22

@keith moore I freaking like you! I grew up in Ohio. My mom's side of the family came from West Virginia. The family tree stops short because some of my ancestors were criminals which illegally changed their names. LOL. On my Dad's side, I'm related to Jesse James.

Daniel C - 2020-02-09

@ElementalMaker there is another trick we sometimes use to seperate the water out of isopropyl alcohol for example. (Many use the alcohol to clean CPUs or other electronics before applying thermal paste) it comes in 70%-90% at the store so you can just buy the bottle and stick it in the freezer. The freezing temperature of isopropyl alcohol is -89°C I believe, so just let the water freeze up and pour out the alcohol later. Takes longer, but there is 0 effort so works for me. Just plan ahead or leave a bottle in the freezer.

Oberon4278 - 2020-03-31

@keith moore Agree or not about the tax man, our current reality is that if you don't pay him he will send men with guns to your home and you will end up in jail. If it's cheap and easy to avoid the men with guns then I don't see a reason not to. Staying out of jail lets you fight another day, and in a battle you're more likely to win. Of course not everyone fights for the same reasons; some fight on principle alone and are willing to lose anything just to avoid sacrificing their principles. While I respect that, I don't think it's the most effective way to change a system you don't like.

Oberon4278 - 2020-03-31

​@Daniel C That works up to a point, but the temperature required to freeze water in an ethanol solution drops faster than the purity of the solution. Unless your freezer can get to -130 F, you won't be getting pure isopropyl alcohol out of the process. Even then, you would get (at -129F, just above the freezing point of pure isopropyl) a slurry of ice particles suspended in alcohol. You'd want to run it through a few freeze-thaw cycles to let the frozen water congregate into a single ring of ice around the edge of the container, with the pure(r) alcohol in the center.

Of course this probably doesn't really matter if you're using it to wipe down a CPU. But you know what they say about someone being wrong on the internet! ;-)

gazzarrr666 - 2020-04-06

Nice idea and definitely worth a try, but I suspect that as the CuSO4 recrystalises on gaining water, it might well fill the available porosity and block the tube. Still (pun intended!), try it and see...

Sheran Naidoo - 2019-05-20

Awesome video on distilling 'Water'....... Just what everyone was looking for..... 👍

Money Origami Originals - 2019-05-20

Table Sugar to Anhydrous Ethanol, in Theory!

unusual fabrication - 2019-05-20

7:43
there are molecular sieves in the background
in a jar

chara dremur - 2020-03-20

Yeah...

Stephen Villano - 2020-04-07

And they were used, even if not reactivated, at the end to address the remaining water content.

hukaman88 - 2019-06-04

That's a every scientific way of doing something I did in in the backwoods

Stephen Villano - 2020-04-07

Not really, it was distilled, which can and frequently is done in the backwoods. But, getting 100% alcohol takes chemical methods, which is what he did, albeit somewhat poorly by using too high a distillation temperature and when fixing it, not using a regular depth filter.

kha's nepal - 2019-05-20

Are you trying to make fuel??
Where is your bucket full of carbide😁😁

प्र कृति - 2019-05-20

🔇🔇

joe estes - 2019-06-10

The best comment!

Mathew Zacharia - 2020-03-23

Ìts ethanol I am not sure if he is gonna use it as fuel but who knows lol

The Pope - 2020-03-27

Mathew Zacharia you know there is a really popular thing people do with ethanol

Andrew Y - 2019-05-20

Wow, sixteen minute video and undoubtedly hours of work just to end up with store bought ethanol. Worth the watch :)

Luca Zakmiov - 2019-08-08

7:58 Doesn't use molecular sieves because it's too expensive.

Molecular sieves on the desk in the top right corner: Am I a joke to you?

Cameron McColl - 2020-05-17

Was coming here to make the same comment haha

gingerneering101 - 2019-12-03

"OK, well f*** copper sulfate." love it.

Max Mick - 2019-05-20

Hey man just want to say i absolutely love your channel, i always get aVe vibes from your videos and always enjoy your content
Great work
Cheers

ElementalMaker - 2019-05-20

Glad you enjoy, thanks for watching and dropping a comment

Jeff Allen - 2019-05-20

I actually get an Elemental vibe while watch aVe videos. LOL

Tuur Erik - 2019-05-21

Has anyone seen AvE and ElementMaker at same time? Just saying, just saying..... 😒

Wheresmy240 - 2019-12-05

Get Ave vibes? More like he's purposely copying Ave or they're long lost brothers or something. I mean, imitation is the highest form of flattery or some shit like that, right?

Garg710 - 2020-03-31

@Wheresmy240 its probably the BC accent

Samuel Elliot - 2020-04-03

9:38 - "but this stuff will actually desiccate your tongue" Did you mean "desiccate" or "decimate"?

Neji Niisan - 2019-05-20

Nice destilation.

Use quicklime. Even with vacuum it is hard to get anhydrous ethanol.

No problem in redistill the sieve contaminated ethanol.

Gabor .R - 2020-03-29

Nice. Im doing the same thing basically but using the co2 byproducts to feed my cannabis.
So I’m making weed, and I’m making mead!

Charles Van Noland - 2019-11-30

Those molecular sieves are always dusty from banging around on eachother when they're dry. It's a good idea to wash and dry them immediately before use to prevent cloudiness.

Moist - 2019-05-20

Heads up, copper sulfate is toxic.


6:49 You mean you're going to distill water as an example.


8:16 Nevermind


You can also salt out with anh K2CO3

Meh. - 2020-03-20

Based solely on the commentary, I can tell that you and I would get along famously.



Subbed.

nunya bisnass - 2019-08-06

Next time decant the liquid first, then scoop the paste intomthe funnel, so you can use your product to wash down the paste.

Jared Sanders - 2019-05-20

Lmao, I love your videos!! I’ve always thought you sounded like Seth rogen and I couldn’t help but picture him when you said “oh look, the joints wetting!” Hahaha!! Great work though man!!

Tony Semenuk - 2019-05-20

congrats, now I cant wait to see what you do with it

Kokamoe - 2019-05-20

Yes, I listen to deathgrips

The Crude Lab - 2019-05-20

grandpa EM's tripple X moonshine!

Mark Arca - 2020-04-13

4:32 - 75% ethanol? That will be a good disinfectant. The U.S. CDC recommends at least 60%.

sbeverunner 60 - 2020-06-22

Awesome! I’ll try this when I can get my clear ice figured out.... perfect for whiskey ;). Bought myself a beautiful bottle and haven’t opened it because of no ice

Kieran Mills - 2020-04-01

“I use copper sulphate because the sieves are too expensive” - fails at removing azeotrope
Resorts to using sieves ahahaha

Alexander Van Graff - 2020-03-23

Ah yes, putting toxic metal salts in my food oven, my old pastime

Daniel McGee - 2019-05-20

Yes I know I'm not a skilled as you. One thing I have used to get higher percentage rubbing alcohol is too use hydrated or non hydrated table salt to help the water separate out. I don't know if it will work with that kind of alcohol so try with the store bought first

joe estes - 2019-06-10

You could always just use salt! Sea salt works great!of course i buy 55 gallons at a time because i use it in my race car! Great video

Jordan Gipson - 2019-05-20

I’ve missed you. Good to see you!

Chris VH - 2019-05-20

A video before bed. Perfect timing

ProCactus - 2019-05-20

Nice coincidence, I have glassware in the mail as of 1 week ago, To do just this :D

Delicious DeBlair - 2019-05-20

Two OTHER methods of dehydrating ethanol:

Old world option: cook the distillate in refined starch

New world option: pour the distillate through granulated sodium carbonate.

BOTH options will give you anhydrous, and both options are reusable [moreso with NaCO3 (easier), but it is possible to dehydrate the starch using heat and a vacuum].

Sodium carbonate is far cheaper than CuSO4, and technically a little safer, on top of the fact that you do not need to boil it, simply pour it through and put the balance in a freezer, it will drip out.

It does not make a sludge, so long as you have an excess of SaCO3, and is easily obtained from bulk sodium bicarbonate if you can not readily find large volumes of it for sale simply by heating it with water to 112C until it stops fizzing, then boil it dry and crumble to make sure you have adequate surface area.

Bulk NaHCO3, by the way, can be obtained cheaply in 50lb sacks from many farm and feed supplies.

peregrine1970 - 2019-05-20

Looks like someone got Papa Smurf happy.

Carl Alm - 2019-05-20

I so love this stuff!

Human Psychology Explained - 2019-05-20

I'm going fishing tomorrow morning, why am I still awake watch Elemental Maker at half twelve still wide awake .

wimderix - 2019-05-25

Love the fact that you show the little disappointing moments and make them into golden learning moments.

JasonVladimir - 2019-05-23

Some very fascinating theoretical chemistry!

Joshua Noble - 2019-05-23

Thank you so much for posting this useful and comprehensive water purification video.

I like this - 2019-05-20

You should get one of those cheap check valves for distillations great way to keep water out

DC Allan - 2019-05-20

looks like much hard work went into this one. Thanks fot sharing

ElementalMaker - 2019-05-20

Appreciate it Allan. It was quite a fun project.

JKLslayer11545 - 2019-05-20

Being that high of percentage, what color is it when it burns? I know from from playing with fire over the years that around 70% (isopropyl alcohol, anyways) burns with a nice blue flame under the right conditions; 91% burns with a teal color under the relative same conditions. I'm curious as to seeing the difference, could you demonstrate it in the next video?

ElementalMaker - 2019-05-20

Good question, Ill have to try burning it. I think it will still be the same though, unless some contamination from either the copper or molecular sieves snuck in.

graeme ross - 2020-04-01

yes your "tax" has been paid 😉 😉

geoff milton - 2020-04-07

Used to use anhydrous ethanol in the molecular biology lab for something... can't remember what for. If you get it on you, let alone try to drink it, you're talking tissue damage. Buy straight whiskey from the Man so long as times is good. I suggest the top shelf offerings of Heaven Hill or Four Roses.

ElGatoLoco698 - 2019-05-20

Come on man, I'm hoping you get back to work on the vernueil furnace for making ruby.

Nick P - 2019-11-14

Whispers: don't let your wife catch ya
Batch is finished
SCREAMS: HERE WE ARE AN HOUR LATER

Machineius - 2019-05-21

Great job. That was pretty damn cool.

Elaine Treadwell - 2019-11-19

Fabulous work. Amazing what sugar can do. Lol. I love your work. Thanks for your time & effort making a video.

Richard Solomon - 2019-05-20

Totally understand the frustration at copper I was fingers crossed for 100% nice job getting it done :-)

bob along - 2020-10-30

something to be thinking about is an economic analysis for this method of yours .
for NP chr'y water is a no-no, and there anhyd' etoh is indicated. for RP chr'y water
is often in the eluent mix already so your 95% would fit right in ( after filtering )