Recovery of near-anhydrous ethanol as gasoline additive from fermentation products

Journal Article · Thu Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · Separation Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/01496399508013114· OSTI ID:98975

Boukouvalas, C; Markoulaki, E; Magoulas, K; Tassios, D ^[1]

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1. National Technical Univ. of Athens (Greece)

The use of near-anhydrous ethanol, obtained from fermentation products through low pressure distillation, as a gasoline additive is examined. To this purpose, a reliable model for predicting the azeotropic composition of an ethanol-water mixture as a function of the pressure is presented. It is developed by considering the available thermodynamic consistent experimental data and using the Wilson and the virial equations for the liquid-and vapor-phase nonideality, respectively. It is concluded that, for an area with no extremely cold winters-minimum ambient temperature -20{degrees}C-alcohol with 96.5%(wt) purity can be used in a 90/10 (vol) gasohol mixture. Such an alcohol can be produced with a single distillation column operating at 140 mmHg pressure with an energy consumption of 5150 kJ/kg of product; or with a system of two columns with lower energy consumption but higher capital cost. These energy consumptions are very sensitive to the accuracy of the predicted azeotropic composition at the operating pressures.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 98975
• Journal Information: Separation Science and Technology, Journal Name: Separation Science and Technology Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 30; ISSN 0149-6395; ISSN SSTEDS
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
AZEOTROPE
DISTILLATION
ETHANOL
FERMENTATION
FUEL ADDITIVES
GASOLINE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PERFORMANCE