A cooperative sugar factorycontrolled by Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope would be manufacturing hand sanitizers based on ethanol, it said on Friday.With the outbreak of coronavirus, there has been a shortage of hand sanitizers which, doctors say, are useful to keep hands virus-free.Karmayogi Ankushrao Tope Samarth Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana in Ambad tehsil of Jalna district will produce 10,000 litres of hand sanitizer liquid per day from the next week, said the factory's Managing Director Dilip Patil.The factory, controlled by Tope, an NCP leader, has obtained permission for this purpose, he said.Ethanol, a type of alcohol, can be made from byproducts of sugar manufacturing."The major constituent of hand sanitizer liquid is ethanol (80%) which we have in ample quantity. Other constituents are hydrogen peroxide (0.125%), glycerin or glycerol (1.45%), distilled water (18.40%), fragrance and color, as per the WHO guidelines," Patil said.
