FOOD GRADE ETHANOL
Ethanol (Ethyl Alcohol) is divided into food grade ethanol and technical grade ethanol.
Food grade ethyl alcohol - the main raw material for the production a lot of alcoholic beverages. Depending on the purification, edible alcohol is produced in the differnt grades. For CIS contries actula grades*: Lux, Extra, Highest Purification and 1st grade.
One of the main indicators of food grade Ethanol quality is organoleptic indicators (color, transparency, taste and smell), which are determined during the tasting process when using special reference samples of rectified alcohols.
The quality of food grade ethanol is determined by its physico-chemical parameters: alcohol content, aldehydes, fusel oils, free acids, esters, methyl alcohol and furfural (these indicators determine the safety of ethanol), purity, oxidation. Even small concentrations of impurities in Ethanol affect the organoleptic characteristics of alcohol and the quality of beverages.
| No | Parameter | 1th-grade | High clean grade | «Extra» grade | «Lux» grade | Method of controll |
| 1 | Volume fraction of ethyl alcohol,%, not less | 96 | 96,2 | 96,3 | 96,3 | GOST* 5964 |
| 2 | Test for purity with sulfuric acid | Passes | Passes | Passes | Passes | GOST* 5964 |
| 3 | Test for Oxidation min at 20 ° C not less | 10 | 15 | 20 | 22 | GOST* 5964 |
| 4 | Mass concentration of acetic aldehyde in terms of anhydrous alcohol, mg / dm3, no more than | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 | GOST* Р 51698 |
| 6 | Mass concentration of fusel oil: | 35 | 8 | 5 | 5 | GOST* 51698 |
| 1-propanol, 2-propanol, isobutyl alcohol, 1-butanol, isoamyl alcohol, calculated on an anhydrous alcohol, mg / dm3, no more than | ||||||
| 8 | Mass concentration of ester: | 30,0 | 10 | 10 | 5 | GOST* 51698 |
| - Methyl acetate and ethyl acetate in terms of anhydrous alcohol, mg / dm3, no more than | ||||||
| 10 | Volume fraction of methyl alcohol, calculated on an anhydrous alcohol,%, no more | 0,05 | 0,03 | 0,02 | 0,01 | GOST* Р51698 |
| 12 | Mass concentration of free acids (with no CO2) in terms of anhydrous alcohol, mg / dm3, no more than | 20 | 15 | 12 | 8 | GOST* 5964 |
| 13 | Furfural content | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | GOST* 5964 |
* GOST - technical standards maintained by the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EASC), a regional standards organization operating under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).