The COVID-19 pandemic placed a tremendous strain on global supply chains including those for producing hand sanitizer and surface disinfectants. Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, annual world production of hand sanitizer was 300,000 L. Increased demand for these products led to erosion of the supply chain for the components of these products. The growth in demand led to the introduction of interim government regulations to ease the shortages. The immediate need for disinfectant products necessitated a local, low-cost adaptation of existing industry to produce hand and surface sanitizers, which included the permittance of “technical-grade” ethanol for inclusion in sanitizer products. A fuel ethanol production plant was evaluated, and processes were developed to upgrade and purify ethanol for hand sanitizer without the need for additional infrastructure. The ethanol was characterized according to United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) monograph and the process upgrades were selected and optimized to address non-compliant parameters (e.g.  ozone treatment, treatment of hard water, and mechanical filtering). Health Canada issued permits for the ingredients, and formulated sanitizer products were available to the public within 2 months to address shortages. Meanwhile, purification processes were further improved, and within 8 months the ethanol met food quality compliance (e.g. Food Chemicals Codex). This local, sustainable, and scalable ethanol refining process is transferable to other ethanol plants and has long-term implications for emergency response planning and reduces the need for long-distance transport of ethanol.

Industrial process modifications for upgrading fuel ethanol for disinfectants in catastrophic supply-chain disruption

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.