The most common substrate used in distilleries for the production of ethanol is :

Question

Accepted Answer

B. 1. Recall what substrate is most commonly used in **distilleries** to produce ethanol — it is **molasses**, a byproduct of sugar production.

2. To prepare it for fermentation, the molasses is diluted into a **mash** containing about **10–20% by weight of sugar**.

$$
	ext{Molasses} ightarrow 	ext{Diluted mash (10–20 wt\% sugar)} ightarrow 	ext{Fermentation} ightarrow 	ext{Ethanol}
$$

3. Through the fermentation of this molasses-based mash by yeast, ethanol is produced on a commercial scale.

4. Eliminate the other options — ground gram, soyabean, and corn meal are not the most common substrates specifically used in distilleries for ethanol production.

Hence, the answer is **B (Molasses)**.