Chegg Guided Solutions for A Small Scale Approach to Organic Laboratory Techniques 3rd Edition: Chapter 26

Chapter: Problem:
0 Stars(0 users)
  • Step 1 of 3

    First, we need to look at the overall balanced equation for the fermentation of glucose into ethanol and carbon dioxide. The equation is listed below:

    This equation shows that theoretically, each equivalent of glucose that is consumed in fermentation should generate 2 equivalents of carbon.

  • Step 2 of 3

    The first step to calculate the percent recovery is to calculate the expected amount of ethanol based on the amount of carbon dioxide produced during the fermentation. Let x be the amount of carbon dioxide produced, in moles. Based on the balanced equation above, there should be x moles of ethanol produced, since the ratio in the balanced equation is 2:2.

    Next, take the amount of ethanol collected from distillation (call this variable y) and divide by the molecular weight of ethanol to convert to moles.

  • Step 3 of 3

    Finally, divide the collected moles of ethanol by the calculated number of moles of ethanol formed (as found by calculation from the carbon dioxide formed).

    The expression is the fraction of recovered ethanol. (You will need to plug in your experimentally measured values for y and x.)

Select Your Problem

Step-by-step solutions for this book and 2,500 others
Already used by over 1 million students to study better

Get Study Help from Chegg
