Process of concentrating ethanol from dilute aqueous solutions thereof

Patent · Tue Jul 07 04:00:00 EDT 1981

OSTI ID:863932

Oulman, Charles S. ^[1]; Chriswell, Colin D. ^[2]

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1. Ames, IA
2. Slater, IA

Relatively dilute aqueous solutions of ethanol are concentrated by passage through a bed of a crystalline silica polymorph, such as silicalite, to adsorb the ethanol with residual dilute feed in contact with the bed, which is displaced by passing concentrated aqueous ethanol through the bed without displacing the adsorbed ethanol. A product concentrate is then obtained by removing the adsorbed ethanol from the bed together with at least a portion of the concentrated aqueous ethanol used as the displacer liquid. This process permits ethanol to be concentrated from dilute fermentation beers, which may contain from 6 to 10% ethanol, to obtain a concentrate product at very low energy cost having an ethanol concentration in excess of 95%, such as a concentration of from 98 to 99.5%.

• Research Organization: Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA; Iowa State University, Ames, IA (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-82
• Assignee: Iowa State Univ. Research Foundation, Inc., Ames, IA (United States)
• Patent Number(s): 4,277,635
• Application Number: 06/162,524
• OSTI ID: 863932
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

/999/
09 BIOMASS FUELS
10
95
98
99
ADSORBENTS
ADSORPTION
ALCOHOLS
BIOSYNTHESIS
CHALCOGENIDES
CONCENTRATION RATIO
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ETHANOL
EXTRACTION APPARATUSES
EXTRACTION COLUMNS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS RECOVERY
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
REGENERATION
SEPARATION EQUIPMENT
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SILICON OXIDES
SORPTION
SORPTIVE PROPERTIES
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SYNTHESIS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
adsorb
adsorbed
aqueous
aqueous solution
aqueous solutions
bed
beers
concentrate
concentrated
concentrated aqueous
concentrating
concentration
contact
contain
cost
crystalline
crystalline silica
dilute
dilute aqueous
displaced
displacer
displacing
energy
ethanol
excess
feed
fermentation
liquid
obtain
obtained
passage
passing
permits
polymorph
portion
process
process permits
product
relatively
relatively dilute
removing
residual
silica
silicalite
solutions