Jacob Stepanovich Esipov (; died 1805) was a Russian inventor. In 1799-1801 he developed a technology for obtaining sugar from

sugar beets A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...

under industrial conditions in Russia.

Commercialization

In November 1802, Esipov built the first

beet sugar Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

and alcohol distillery in Russia, in partnership with Yegor Ivanovich Blankennagel in the village of Alyabyevo () of Chernovsky County () of the

Tula Governorate Tula Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR. The governate existed from 1796 to 1929; its seat was in the city of Tula. It was divided into 12 districts. The main towns w ...

(). During 1802-1803 the factory produced 4.9 tons of raw sugar from beets harvested from 11 tithe of crops (1 tithe = 1.09 ha). The purity was approximately 85%. Waste sugar production (molasses, etc.) was processed into

ethyl alcohol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the pseudoelement symbol ...

. In 1807, the sugar-refining department was added to the plant. For the first time in Russia Esipov introduced the purification of beet juice with

lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...

. This method is still used. In the fall of 1802 Esipov built a second, more advanced beet sugar plant in the village of Nikolskoe (). In 1803-1804, it produced raw and white sugar, alcohol, and liquor. Byproducts were used for animal feed. The yield of raw sugar from beet was 3.1% of the beet mass."History of sugar production"
/ref> He died in St. Petersburg, Russia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esipov, Jacob Year of birth missing 1805 deaths Russian inventors 18th-century businesspeople from the Russian Empire People from Tula Governorate