Solvent screening study and conceptual extractive distillation process to produce anhydrous ethanol from fermentation broth
This solvent screening study indicates that glycols are very selective solvents for producing anhydrous ethanol from fermentation broth by extractive distillation. The promising solvents are glycerin, ethylene glycol, tetraethylene glycol, and triethylene glycol. An improved extractive distillation process for producing anhydrous ethanol was conceptually developed which was based on the analysis of the experimental solvent screening data. The basic idea of this process is to add an extractive solvent only to the ethanol-rich portion of the fractionator to eliminate the ethanol-water azeotrope and to change the undesirable shape of the vapor-liquid equilibrium curve to one more favorable for distillation. With a suitable solvent, such as ethylene glycol, anhydrous ethanol could be produced from the fermentation broth in a column with only 18 theoretical trays. A low reflux ratio of 1.5 and a low solvent-to-feed ratio of 0.27 (based on fermentation broth) would be needed for the separation.
- Research Organization:
- Phillips Research Center, Phillips Petroleum Company, Bartlesville, Oklahoma
- OSTI ID:
- 5246569
- Journal Information:
- Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev.; (United States), Journal Name: Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev.; (United States) Vol. 24:1; ISSN IEPDA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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System and method for extracting ethanol from a fermentation broth
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Related Subjects
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
ALCOHOLS
AZEOTROPE
BIOCONVERSION
CHEMICAL REACTORS
DISTILLATION
EQUILIBRIUM
ETHANOL
EXTRACTION
FERMENTATION
FLUIDS
GASES
GLYCEROL
GLYCOLS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
LIQUIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLYETHYLENE GLYCOLS
POLYMERS
PRODUCTION
QUANTITY RATIO
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SOLVENT PROPERTIES
SOLVENTS
VAPORS
WATER