The invention is a process for the purification of ethanol. In one
embodiment the process includes boiling a degassed beer feed (106) in a
pre-boiler (110) to provide a vapor by-pass fraction (112) that by-passes
the conventional beer column and is fed into the rectifier column (124).
The process allows free capacity in the rectifier column of new or
established plants to be filled by ethanol-water vapor and/or condensate
streams that do not originate from the beer column.