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A Natural Diversion

Ethanol, carbon dioxide, and acetic acid via monads
NOWA? Substance Status
LIBR Water Prev
NOWA Honey Pending
NOWA Yeast Pending
LIBR Ethanol Pending
NOWA Acetobacter Pending
LIBR Acetic acid Pending

Justification

Ethanol and acetic acid are both produced as waste products by microbes. We will turn aside from our stream of logical goals to explore the principle of "Let nature do the heavy lifting."

Path

  • The production of ethanol and acetic acid is still done the way we do it here. There are other methods but we will follow the original path. Natural yeasts produce ethanol from sugars, and acetobacter produce acetic acid from ethanol. Both yeasts and acetobacter are ubiquitous in our environment, and are easy to capture and culture. Both ethanol and acetic acid are useful materials, and as a side benefit, yeasts produce carbon dioxide as a biproduct of producing ethanol. Nature is willing to do a lot of chemistry for us if we'll just let her.
    C6H12O6 2 C2H5OH + 2 CO2 // yeast fermentation
    C2H5OH + O2 CH3COOH + H2O // acetobacter fermentation