You could use a Carbon dioxide scrubber to remove the CO2 and then still be able to use a vacuum for distillation.
The House of Jade wrote: > Well, you are now talking about vacuum fermentation for which there > is a > patented process. Stripping off ethanol as it is produced solves one > problem > but the problem is that the vacuum system must deal with the massive > amounts > of carbon dioxide being generated by the fermentation process; so > vacuum > fermentation of ethanol never got off the ground. > > Yes, it is possible to use a rather high vacuum to break the azeotrope > and > obtain 200 proof (absolute, anhydrous) ethanol. However, high vacuum > distillation is best carried out in borosilicate glass, as metal > stills are > subject to crushing. A lot of ethanol will be wasted out the pump > unless you > have efficient cold trapping (usually acetone/dry ice slurry) with its > own > dangers. So, molecular sieves are easier and safer to render 96% > ethanol > anhydrous. > > Also bear in mind that anhydrous ethanol will very efficiently soak up > > moisture from the air and return to the azeotropic state, so to keep > it dry, > you must handle it using special atmosphere-excluding techniques. > > Hope this helps... > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at > http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. > > > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck Monitoring Service trial http://us.click.yahoo.com/ACHqaB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/