You are far more correct than I was. Normal chemistry tends to break down at high temperatures, so at 800 C like what they used, stuff gets complicated (far beyond my understanding of chemistry). After my post I did find that paper and I am amused by it. Most of my earlier criticism doesn't stand.
But the one thing that does stand is the most important: no one would ever seriously use tequila. If you want ethanol and water, use them, but don't pay a premium to get EtOH, H20, and random gunk from the agave plant.
Seeing that Castano from that paper (the only one of the three who did not attend the ceremony to receive the Ig Nobel prize they received) is the chief technology and research officer of CTLE makes me think that this is some sort of elaborate joke. Sort of like if I were to create a pump and dump company and use the ticker PUMP. He is a chemist, so he has to know how dumb using tequila would be. It is as if he is saying to all the shareholders: you guys are so stupid that you'll believe anything I say, no matter how dumb.
And of course, the whole business plan makes no sense. You don't do industrial coatings (paints) and then say oh wait, let's make industrial diamonds, too. Instead, you do your one killer product very well and make a bundle. But with a pump and dump company, the goal is not to produce a product or sales, but to create news that gets people excited about the stock.
I remain short CTLE. I won't post if that changes. CTLE is, in my view, substantially worthless.
