How to Make Methanol From Sugar

Properly seal your beaker when making methanol to prevent an explosion.

Methanol is a common chemical additive in fuels and household products. In its pure form, the alcohol is highly flammable and has a colorless flame. It can be made from almost any organic product, but it must be produced in a well-ventilated area, such as outdoors or in controlled laboratory setting because of the risk of explosion. Methanol can be made from a sugar solution, but yeast and pectin must be present for the necessary chemical reaction.

Things You'll Need

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups water
• Saucepan
• 2 beakers
• Packet of yeast
• 1 tablespoon pectin
• Plastic wrap
• Rubber stopper
• Tubing

Instructions

1. Dissolve 1 cup of granulated sugar in 2 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan. Heat the pan to boiling, stirring the contents to ensure the sugar is incorporated. Pour the solution into a beaker and allow it to cool until the temperature is between 105 and 110 degrees.

2. Add 1 packet of yeast and a tablespoon of pectin to the solution. Stir the contents and loosely cover the beaker with plastic wrap.

3. Observe the beaker's contents for several days. Methanol can be made when the bubbling action caused by the yeast ceases and the liquid is not as cloudy.

4. Place the rubber stopper into the beaker. Insert one end of tubing through the hole in the stopper and the other end into an empty beaker.

5. Heat the beaker containing the solution to a boil slowly. Vapor will travel through the tubing and condense into the second beaker. The first amount of distilled liquid to appear in the second beaker is methanol.

Tips & Warnings

• Pectin contains enzymes that convert the sugar to the proper chemical makeup of methanol. If absent from the solution, the process will result only in the production of ethanol.

• The beaker with the boiling solution must be properly sealed. If the solution bubbles over, it can catch fire and cause an explosion.

• Methanol is toxic and can be fatal if ingested.

• Production of distilled spirits is illegal without government permits and oversight.

References

• Home Distillation of Alcohol: Methanol Safety
• Methanol Institute: Methanol Basics
• Making Your Own Fuel