Vinasse

Vinasse is a byproduct of the sugar

Sucrose

Sucrose, commonly called table sugar, is a moosaccharide of glucose and fructose with the molecular formula C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁. This white, odorless, crystalline powder has a pleasing, sweet taste. It is best known for its role in human nutrition...

 industry. Sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane, or sugar cane, is any of six to thirty-seven species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six meters tall...

 or Sugar beet

Sugar beet

Sugar beet , a member of the Chenopodiaceae family, is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production....

 is processed to produce crystalline sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many...

, pulp and molasses

Molasses

Molasses is a viscous byproduct of the processing of sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet, the...

. The latter are further processed by fermentation

Ethanol fermentation

Ethanol fermentation is a biological process in which sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose are converted into cellular energy and thereby produce ethanol and carbon dioxide as metabolic waste products....

 to ethanol

Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug, best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and in modern thermometers. Ethanol is one of the oldest recreational drugs...

, ascorbic acid

Ascorbic acid

Ascorbic acid is a sugar acid with antioxidant properties. Its appearance is white to light-yellow crystals or powder, and it is water-soluble. One form of ascorbic acid is commonly known as vitamin C. The name is derived from a- and scorbutus , the disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C...

 or other products. After the removal of the desired product

Product (chemistry)

A product is a substance that forms as a result of a biological- or chemical reaction. While the end product of some chemical reactions may be the result of a relatively rapid reaction, nanoseconds to seconds, chemical equilibria in complex systems may require years or even centuries to be...

 (alcohol, Ascorbic acid, etc.) the remaining material is called vinasse . Vinasse is sold after a partial dehydration

Dehydration

Dehydration is defined as excessive loss of body water. It is literally the removal of water from an object. In physiological terms, it entails a relative deficiency of water molecules in relation to other dissolved solutes...

, usually it has a viscosity

Viscosity

Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear stress or extensional stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness." Thus, water is "thin," having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick," having a higher viscosity...

 like molasses. Commercially-offered vinasse comes either from sugar cane and is called cane-vinasse or from sugar beet

Sugar beet

Sugar beet , a member of the Chenopodiaceae family, is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production....

 and is called beet-vinasse.

In the process of distillation

Distillation

Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....

 of the alcohol and as a result of the heating in the distillation process, in the pulp of the beet reactions of condensation

Condensation

Condensation is the change of the physical state of aggregation of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase and the reverse of evaporation. When the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly, bypassing the liquid phase, the change is called deposition...

 and predominantly molecular ruptures take place.

Vinasse is a byproduct of the sugar

Sucrose

Sucrose, commonly called table sugar, is a moosaccharide of glucose and fructose with the molecular formula C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁. This white, odorless, crystalline powder has a pleasing, sweet taste. It is best known for its role in human nutrition...

 industry. Sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane, or sugar cane, is any of six to thirty-seven species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six meters tall...

 or Sugar beet

Sugar beet

Sugar beet , a member of the Chenopodiaceae family, is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production....

 is processed to produce crystalline sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many...

, pulp and molasses

Molasses

Molasses is a viscous byproduct of the processing of sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet, the...

. The latter are further processed by fermentation

Ethanol fermentation

Ethanol fermentation is a biological process in which sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose are converted into cellular energy and thereby produce ethanol and carbon dioxide as metabolic waste products....

 to ethanol

Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug, best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and in modern thermometers. Ethanol is one of the oldest recreational drugs...

, ascorbic acid

Ascorbic acid

Ascorbic acid is a sugar acid with antioxidant properties. Its appearance is white to light-yellow crystals or powder, and it is water-soluble. One form of ascorbic acid is commonly known as vitamin C. The name is derived from a- and scorbutus , the disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C...

 or other products. After the removal of the desired product

Product (chemistry)

A product is a substance that forms as a result of a biological- or chemical reaction. While the end product of some chemical reactions may be the result of a relatively rapid reaction, nanoseconds to seconds, chemical equilibria in complex systems may require years or even centuries to be...

 (alcohol, Ascorbic acid, etc.) the remaining material is called vinasse . Vinasse is sold after a partial dehydration

Dehydration

Dehydration is defined as excessive loss of body water. It is literally the removal of water from an object. In physiological terms, it entails a relative deficiency of water molecules in relation to other dissolved solutes...

, usually it has a viscosity

Viscosity

Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear stress or extensional stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness." Thus, water is "thin," having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick," having a higher viscosity...

 like molasses. Commercially-offered vinasse comes either from sugar cane and is called cane-vinasse or from sugar beet

Sugar beet

Sugar beet , a member of the Chenopodiaceae family, is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production....

 and is called beet-vinasse.

In the process of distillation

Distillation

Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....

 of the alcohol and as a result of the heating in the distillation process, in the pulp of the beet reactions of condensation

Condensation

Condensation is the change of the physical state of aggregation of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase and the reverse of evaporation. When the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly, bypassing the liquid phase, the change is called deposition...

 and predominantly molecular ruptures take place. This causes a high fulvic acid concentration in this byproduct. One use of vinasse is in thermophilic digester

Thermophilic digester

A thermophilic digester or thermophilic biodigester is a kind of biodigester that operates in temperatures above 50°C producing biogas. It has some advantages: it does not needs agitation and is faster in fermentation than a mesophilic digester. In fact, it can be as much as six to ten times faster...

s. In Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...

 thermophilic digester

Thermophilic digester

A thermophilic digester or thermophilic biodigester is a kind of biodigester that operates in temperatures above 50°C producing biogas. It has some advantages: it does not needs agitation and is faster in fermentation than a mesophilic digester. In fact, it can be as much as six to ten times faster...

 is a cheap source of biogas

Biogas

Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Biogas originates from biogenic material and is a type of biofuel....

 using pure and hot vinasse as the source of production of methane. In long past, vinasse was a problem in production of ethanol

Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug, best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and in modern thermometers. Ethanol is one of the oldest recreational drugs...

. Now, vinasse is a solution. Vinasse is a good fertilizer

Fertilizer

Fertilizers are chemical compounds applied to promote plant and fruit growth. Fertilizers are usually applied either through the soil or by foliar feeding...

and a cheap source of methane.