CHAPTER ONE

1.0            INTRODUCTION

The manufacture of alcohol by fermentation has bee3n known since amtignity, the4 main purpose being the preparation of alcoholic beverages like beer, wine etc, the raw material is palm wine and any feed stuffy rich in carbohydrates, e.g wheat, barley, cassava, grapes, yams, apple, corn,  rich, potates, banana and   plantains.   Palm wine is made from the gap at the raffia palm or the oil palm which contain fermentable carbohydrate in solution.  It owes its white appearance to a suspension of yeast.  It’s fermentation therefore does not require the addition of yeast from an outside source.  Fermentation is in fact very rapid at ordinary te4mperaturein tropical countries with the production of alcohol and acids, especially ethanoic (i.e acetic) acid and large quantities of carbon dioxide.  Because of the large volume of carbon dioxide released during fermentation, fresh palm wine cannot be kept nor transported in sealed containers.  Fresh palm wine is sweet, because of the high content of in fermented sugar, It is consequently low in alcoholic content and hence only very neatly intoxicating.  On standing, however, fermentation proceeds rapidly, as a result of which the wine rapidly loses  its’ sweet taste due to a fall in the sugar content, it also becomes more sour and more intoxicating owing to a rise in the alcoholic. Content.  When fully fermented, it is very sour and strongly alcoholic.  The alcohol produced here is of course mainly ethanol.  However, the strides of fermentation using the production and characterization of alcohol from fermentated palm wine are necessary to form an understanding of any fermentation process.  In the beginning the only source for ethanol was from fermented starch or sugar, but later it was discovered that ethanol could be produced from the crude oil.  In the 20th century the production of ethanol from fermentation nearly disappeared when the crude oil became relatively cheaper.  But now it seems that this development has stopped and clock is now again moving backwards, faster and faster to the original source of ethanol which is from fermented starch or sugar.  Many fermentation processes are in direct competition with strictly chemical synthesis.  Alcohol, acetones, butyl alcohol and acetic acid produced by fermentation have largely been superceded by their synthetic counterparts .  Almost all major anti – biotic are obtained from fermentation process.  Dextrin is another fermentation product.   The micro biological production of vitamins has also becomes economically important.  Thus, alcohol being the major product of fermentation has contributed a lot in technological advancement.

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