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How to Produce Glycerol From Molasses

In chemistry notation, all alcohols end in the suffix "-ol" --- and glycerol is no exception. This alcohol can be made from molasses through the process of fermentation. Molasses is able to ferment because it's a sugar: The fermentation process is the transformation of sugar molecules into alcohol molecules. The glycerol can also be separated from impurities and the yeast in the final solution through distillation; however, distilling alcohol for home use is only legal in certain countries: Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Austria, Romania, Italy and New Zealand.

Things You'll Need

4 cups water
Fermentation vessel with air filter
1 lb. Cuban blackstrap molasses
pH tester
0.18 oz. anhydrous sodium carbonate
0.09 oz. disodium hydrogen phosphate
Stirrer
Steam sterilizer
Airline tubing
Aeration stone
Aquarium pump
3 cups inoculum culture
9 cups ammonium sulfate
Filter
1/2 cup sulfite-bisulfite solution

Instructions

- 1
  Pour the water into the fermentation vessel. Dissolve the molasses into the water.
- 2
  Place the pH tester in the solution. Add sodium carbonate to the solution. Stop when the pH of the water is 6.8.
- 3
  Add the disodium hydrogen phosphate to the solution and mix manually with the stirrer.
- 4
  Place the solution-filled fermentation vessel, along with the stirrer, air filter, airline tubing and aeration stone, into the steam sterilizer. Steam them at 212 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes to pasteurize them. Allow the solution to cool back down to room temperature.
- 5
  Connect the airline tubing to the aquarium pump at one end. Connect it to the aeration stone at the other end. Place the aeration stone into the solution and turn on the aquarium pump.
- 6
  Add the inoculum culture to the solution. Mix the solution by setting the stirrer to stir the solution mechanically. Aerate and stir the solution for 30 minutes. Stop the stirring and aeration and remove the aeration stone. Allow the solution to continue fermentation on its own for another three to four hours.
- 7
  Add roughly 1/3 cup of the sulfate. Watch the solution's fermentation become inhibited and allow the fermentation to begin again --- usually about half an hour to an hour later. Continue to add the sulfate in amounts of roughly 1/3 cup, using the same process until all of the sulfate is added --- roughly 27 to 33 hours.
- 8
  Wait roughly 120 hours from the beginning of fermentation. Pour the solution through a filter to filter out the yeast. Add the sulfite-bisulfite solution. The remaining substance is roughly 0.7 oz. of pure glycerol.

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