NOVELTY - Reducing concentration of acetic acid from ethanol production process involves hydrogenating acetic acid in reactor to form caide ethanol product comprising ethanol, acetic acid, and water; separating a portion of caide ethanol product in first column into first distillate comprising ethanol and first residue stream (113) comprising acetic acid and water; reacting acetic acid from first residue with alcohol in esterification unit (118) to produce ester/water; and separating ester from water to produce ester product stream comprising ester and second residue (120) comprising water.    USE - For reducing the concentration of acetic acid from ethanol production process (claimed), particularly for reducing the concentration of acetic acid in a caide ethanol product; used in a variety of applications including applications as fuels, solvents, chemical feedstocks, pharmaceutical products, cleansers, sanitizers, hydrogenation transport or consumption; in fuel applications, the finished ethanol composition may be blended with gasoline for motor vehicles such as automobiles, boats and small piston engine aircraft, in non-fuel applications, the finished ethanol composition may be used as a solvent for toiletry and cosmetic preparations, detergents, disinfectants, coatings, inks, and pharmaceuticals. The finished ethanol composition can be used as a processing solvent in manufacturing processes for medicinal products, food preparations, dyes, photochemicals and latex processing.    ADVANTAGE - The method beneficially reduces the energy required for additional acetic acid removal steps since less acetic acid will be contained in the ethanol-containing distillate of the first column.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows schematic view of an acetic acid reduction system for an ethanol production process.    Reaction zone (101)    Separation zone (102)    Reactor (103)    Hydrogen feed line (104)    Acetic acid feed line (105)    First residue stream (113)    Esterification unit (118)    Second residue (120)