Ethanol - what is this substance? What is its use and how is it produced? Ethanol is better known to everyone under a different name - alcohol. Of course, this is not a completely correct designation. But meanwhile, it is under the word "alcohol" that we mean "ethanol." Our ancestors also knew about its existence. They got it through a fermentation process. Various products from cereals to berries were used. But in the resulting Braga, that is what alcohol was called in the old days, the amount of ethanol did not exceed 15 percent. Pure alcohol could be isolated only after the distillation processes were studied.
Ethanol - what is it?
Ethanol is a monohydric alcohol. Under normal conditions, it is a volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a specific smell and taste. Ethanol is widely used in industry, medicine, and everyday life. It is an excellent disinfectant. Alcohol is used as fuel and as a solvent. But most of all, the formula of ethanol C2H5OH is known to lovers of alcoholic beverages. It is in this area that this substance has found wide application. But do not forget that alcohol as an active component of alcoholic beverages is a strong depressant. This psychoactive substance can inhibit the central nervous system and cause a strong addiction.
Nowadays, it is difficult to find an industry where ethanol would not be used. It is difficult to list everything why alcohol is so useful. But most of all, its properties were evaluated in pharmaceuticals. Ethanol is the main component of almost all medicinal tinctures. Many "grandmother's recipes" for the treatment of human ailments are based on this substance. It draws from the plants all the beneficial substances, accumulating them. This property of alcohol has found application in the manufacture of homemade herbal and berry tinctures. And although it is alcoholic beverages, but in moderation they bring health benefits.
Ethanol Benefits
The ethanol formula is known to everyone since school chemistry lessons. But here is the benefit of this chemical, so not everyone will immediately answer. In fact, it is difficult to imagine an industry where alcohol would not be used. First of all, ethanol is used in medicine as a powerful disinfectant. They treat the operating surface and wounds. Alcohol is detrimental to almost all groups of microorganisms. But ethanol is used not only in surgery. It is indispensable for the manufacture of medicinal extracts and tinctures.
In small doses, alcohol is good for the human body. It helps to thin the blood, improve blood circulation and dilate blood vessels. It is even used to prevent cardiovascular disease. Ethanol helps to improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. But only in really small doses.
In special cases, the psychotropic effect of alcohol can drown out the most severe pains. Ethanol is also used in cosmetology. Due to its pronounced antiseptic properties, it is included in almost all cleansing lotions for problem and oily skin.
Ethanol Harm
Ethanol is an alcohol produced by fermentation. With excessive use, it can cause severe toxicological poisoning and even to whom. This substance is part of alcoholic beverages. Alcohol causes a strong psychological and physical dependence. Alcoholism is considered a disease. The harm of ethanol is immediately associated with scenes of rampant drunkenness. Excessive consumption of drinks containing alcohol, leads not only to food poisoning. Everything is much more complicated. With frequent drinking of alcohol, almost all organ systems are affected. From oxygen starvation, which causes ethanol, a large number of brain cells die. There is a degradation of personality. In the first stages, memory weakens. Then a person develops diseases of the kidneys, liver, intestines, stomach, blood vessels and heart. In men, there is a loss of potency. In the last stages of the alcoholic, mental deformity is detected.
History of alcohol
Ethanol - what is this substance and how was it obtained? Not everyone knows that it has been used since prehistoric times. He was part of alcoholic beverages. True, his concentration was small. But meanwhile, traces of alcohol were found in China on 9000-year-old ceramics. This clearly indicates that people in the Neolithic era drank alcohol-containing drinks.
The first case of alcohol was recorded in the 12th century in Salerno. True, it was a water-alcohol mixture. Pure ethanol was isolated by Johann Tobias Lovitz in 1796. He used an activated carbon filtration method. Obtaining ethanol in this way has long remained the only method. The formula of alcohol was calculated by Nicolo-Theodore de Saussure, and described it as a carbon compound by Antoine Lavoisier. In the 19-20 centuries, many scientists studied ethanol. All its properties were studied. Currently, it has become widespread and is used in almost all spheres of human activity.
Ethanol production by alcoholic fermentation
Perhaps the most famous method for producing ethanol is alcohol fermentation. It is possible only when using organic products that contain a large amount of carbohydrates, such as grapes, apples, berries. Another important component for fermentation to proceed actively is the presence of yeast, enzymes and bacteria. Processing of potatoes, corn, and rice also looks like. To obtain fuel alcohol, raw sugar is used, which is produced from cane. The reaction is quite complicated. Fermentation results in a solution that contains no more than 16% ethanol. A higher concentration cannot be obtained. This is because the yeast is not able to survive in more saturated solutions. Thus, the obtained ethanol must be subjected to purification and concentration processes. Typically, distillation processes are used.
To obtain ethanol, a yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae of various strains is used. In principle, all of them are able to activate this process. As a nutrient substrate, wood sawdust can be used or, as an alternative, a solution obtained from them.
Fuel
Many are aware of the properties that ethanol has. That it is alcohol or a disinfectant is also widely known. But alcohol is also fuel. It is used in rocket engines. A well-known fact - during the First World War, 70% of water ethanol was used as fuel for the world's first German ballistic missile, the V-2.
Currently, alcohol is more prevalent. As a fuel, it is used in internal combustion engines, for heating appliances. In laboratories, it is poured into an alcohol lamp. The catalytic oxidation of ethanol is used to produce heating pads, both military and tourist. Alcohol with restriction is used in a mixture with liquid petroleum fuel due to its hygroscopicity.
Ethanol in the chemical industry
Widespread use of ethanol in the chemical industry. It serves as a raw material for the production of substances such as diethyl ether, acetic acid, chloroform, ethylene, acetaldehyde, tetraethyl lead, ethyl acetate. In the paint industry, ethanol is widely used as a solvent. Alcohol is the main component of washers and antifreezes. Alcohol is also used in household chemicals. It is part of detergents and cleaners. It is especially common as a component in plumbing and glass care fluids.
Ethyl alcohol in medicine
Ethyl alcohol can be attributed to antiseptics. It has a detrimental effect on almost all groups of microorganisms. It destroys the cells of bacteria and microscopic fungi. The use of ethanol in medicine is almost universal. It is an excellent drying and disinfecting agent. Due to the tanning properties, alcohol (96%) is used to treat the operating tables and hands of the surgeon.
Ethanol is a solvent for drugs. It is widely used for the manufacture of tinctures and extracts from medicinal herbs and other plant materials. The minimum alcohol concentration in such substances does not exceed 18 percent. Ethanol is often used as a preservative.
Ethyl alcohol is also used for grinding. During a fever, it produces a cooling effect. Very often, alcohol is used for warming compresses. At the same time, it is absolutely safe, no redness or burns remain on the skin. In addition, ethanol is used as a defoamer when artificially supplied oxygen during ventilation. Alcohol is also a component of general anesthesia, which can be used in case of drug deficiency.
Oddly enough, medical ethanol is used as an antidote for poisoning with toxic alcohols, such as methanol or ethylene glycol. Its effect is due to the fact that in the presence of several substrates, the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme carries out only competitive oxidation. Due to this, after the immediate intake of ethanol, following toxic methanol or ethylene glycol, a decrease in the current concentration of metabolites poisoning the body is observed. For methanol, it is formic acid and formaldehyde, and for ethylene glycol, oxalic acid.
Food industry
So, how to get ethanol, it was still known to our ancestors. But it received the most widespread use only in the 19-20 centuries. Along with water, ethanol is the basis of almost all alcoholic beverages, primarily vodka, gin, rum, cognac, whiskey, beer. In small quantities, alcohol is also found in drinks that are obtained by fermentation, for example, in kefir, koumiss, kvass. But they are not considered alcohol, since the concentration of alcohol in them is very small. So, the content in fresh kefir ethanol does not exceed 0.12%. But if it settles, then the concentration may increase to 1%. Ethyl alcohol in kvass is slightly more (up to 1.2%). Most alcohol is found in koumiss. In a fresh dairy product, its concentration is from 1 to 3%, and in settled milk it reaches 4.5%.
Ethyl alcohol is a good solvent. This property allows its use in the food industry. Ethanol is a solvent for flavorings. In addition, it can be used as a preservative for bakery products. It is registered as a food supplement E1510. Ethanol has an energy value of 7.1 kcal / g.
The action of ethanol on the human body
Ethanol production has been established all over the world. This valuable substance is used in many areas of human life. Alcohol tinctures are a cure. Wipes impregnated with this substance are used as a disinfectant. But what is the effect of ethanol on our bodies when ingested? Is it useful or harmful? These issues require detailed study. Everyone knows that mankind has consumed alcoholic drinks for centuries. But only in the last century did the problem of alcoholism become widespread. Our ancestors consumed mash, mead, and even now such a popular beer, but all these drinks contained a low percentage of ethanol. Therefore, they could not cause significant harm to health. But after Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev diluted alcohol with water in certain proportions, everything changed.
Currently, alcoholism is a problem in almost all countries of the world. Once in the body, alcohol has a pathological effect on almost all organs, without exception. Depending on the concentration, dose, route of exposure and duration of exposure, ethanol can exhibit toxic and narcotic effects. It is able to disrupt the functioning of the cardiovascular system, contributes to the occurrence of diseases of the digestive tract, including stomach ulcers and 12 duodenal ulcers. Under the narcotic effect is meant the ability of alcohol to cause stupor, insensitivity to pain and inhibition of the functions of the central nervous system. In addition, a person develops alcoholic excitement, very quickly he becomes addicted. In some cases, excessive use of ethanol can cause coma.
What happens in our body when we drink alcoholic beverages? The ethanol molecule is capable of affecting the central nervous system. Under the influence of alcohol, the hormone endorphin is released in the adjacent nucleus, and in people with pronounced alcoholism in the orbitofrontal cortex. But, nevertheless, despite this, ethanol is not recognized as a narcotic substance, although it exhibits all the appropriate actions. Ethyl alcohol has not been listed on the international list of controlled substances. And this is a moot point, because in certain doses, namely 12 grams of substance per 1 kilogram of body weight, ethanol leads first to acute poisoning and then death.
What diseases does ethanol cause?
The ethanol solution itself is not a carcinogen. But its main metabolite, acetaldehyde, is a toxic and mutagenic substance. In addition, it also has carcinogenic properties and provokes the development of cancer. Its qualities were studied in laboratory conditions on experimental animals. These scientific works led to very interesting, but at the same time disturbing results. It turns out that acetaldehyde is not just a carcinogen, it can damage DNA.
Long-term use of alcoholic beverages can cause diseases such as gastritis, liver cirrhosis, duodenal ulcer, cancer of the stomach, esophagus, small and rectum, and cardiovascular diseases. Regular ingestion of ethanol in the body can provoke oxidative damage to brain neurons. Due to damage to the blood-brain barrier, they die. The abuse of alcohol-containing drinks leads to alcoholism and clinical death. In people who regularly drink alcohol, the risk of developing a heart attack and stroke increases significantly.
But this is not all the properties of ethanol. This substance is a natural metabolite. In small quantities, it can be synthesized in the tissues of the human body. It is called true endogenous alcohol. It is also produced as a result of the breakdown of carbohydrate foods in the gastrointestinal tract. Such ethanol is called "conditionally endogenous alcohol." Can a regular breathalyzer determine the alcohol that was synthesized in the body? It is theoretically possible. Its amount rarely exceeds 0.18 ppm. This value is located at the lower boundary of the most modern measuring instruments.