Production of ethanoic acid by oxidation of ethanol

Abstract

Ethanoic acid is also called acetic acid. It is colorless and if it is undiluted that called glacial acetic acid. In many countries like USA, United Kingdom and other Asian countries acetic acid used as a food additive, that is why this lab work is done to produce acetic acid with a better yield of 81%. It is used to for cooking, cleaning and laundry purposes, so one can prepare it at home easily. It is not only used as a food additive but also widely used in industrial processes. The basic purpose of manufacturing acetic acid is to produce household vinegar which is 3 to 9% of acetic acid by volume. Acetic acid is produced by oxidation. And oxidation used in preparing acetic acid is a unit process. Whereas, unit operations used in preparing acetic acid are mixing & distillation.