DOCSLIB.ORG

New Approach for Modeling Hybrid Pressure Swing Adsorption-Distillation Processes Fan Wu University of South Carolina

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
New Approach for Modeling Hybrid Pressure Swing Adsorption-Distillation Processes Fan Wu University of South Carolina University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 1-1-2013 New Approach for Modeling Hybrid Pressure Swing Adsorption-Distillation Processes Fan Wu University of South Carolina Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Chemical Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Wu, F.(2013). New Approach for Modeling Hybrid Pressure Swing Adsorption-Distillation Processes. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/2374 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NEW APPROACH FOR MODELING HYBRID PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION-DISTILLATION PROCESSES by Fan Wu Bachelor of Science Dalian University of Technology, 2008 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering College of Engineering and Computing University of South Carolina 2013 Accepted by: James Ritter, Major Professor Armin Ebner, Committee Member Edward Gatzke, Committee Member John Weidner, Committee Member Jamil Khan, Committee Member Lacy Ford, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies © Copyright by Fan Wu, 2013 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION To Xueqiang Wu and Yan Dong, my parents for their love and support. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my advisors Dr. Ritter and Dr. Ebner who has given me the opportunity to join their group and to do this wonderful project, also for the knowledge, technology and everything they have taught me and for their patient guidance and mentorship throughout the completion of this degree at University of South Carolina. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Edward Gatzke, Dr. John Weidner and Dr. Jamil Khan for taking time from their busy schedule to be my committee members and every piece of advice they have given to me during this PhD program including the comprehensive exam, pre-defense exam and final defense exam. I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Marjorie Nicholson for her help in the lab and being so nice to me, also Charles Holland for his genius in building experiment systems. I want to acknowledge all present and prior classmates in the research group, Dr. Jan Mangual, Dr. Hai Du, Dr. Amal Mehrotra, Dr. Shubhra Bhadra, Dongxiang Yang, Mohammad Iftekhar Hossain, Anahita Abdollahi, Lutfi Erden, Hanife Erden, Atikur Rahman and Nima Mohammadi for their support and inspiration. In addition, I would like to appreciate all my friends who have made my life at University of South Carolina filled with happiness. A special thanks goes to my cat iv Sesame who has been an alarm clock to wake me up early in the morning and messed up my bedroom with his claws. Especially, I want to thank my parents, Xueqiang Wu and Yan Dong, for their love and support during my five-year studying aboard. I want to apologize to them for being so away from them for so many years and for not carrying out the obligation as a daughter of them. Finally, I want to appreciate the funding provided by ExxonMobil and Process Science and Technology Center who has made this dissertation possible. v ABSTRACT A new methodology for modeling hybrid pressure swing adsorption (PSA)-distillation processes has been developed. Two hybrid systems were simulated as examples. One is for ethanol dehydration, and the other is for propane/propylene separation. Firstly, a distillation process simulator such as Chemsep was used to simulate the distillation process of the hybrid system, in which the PSA unit was treated as a “black box” with an assumed process performance. In this way, a hybrid PSA-distillation process can be analyzed simply by performing mass balances around these units and running Chemsep to determine the possibility of energy saving compared to a reference (commercial) process. Once an energy saving hybrid “black box” PSA-distillation process was found, a rigorous PSA process simulator was used to simulate a “actual” PSA process by designing the operating conditions, cycle scheduling, etc. Then the distillation process was simulated again with the “actual” PSA performance to calculate the distillation operating cost, followed by calculating the total operating cost of the whole hybrid process. According to the results in this dissertation, significant cost saving could be achieved compared with the traditional processes. The commercial hybrid PSA-distillation uses a simple 2-bed 4-step PSA cycle. It vi is surmised that the PSA performance can be improved by designing a more complicated PSA cycle with more beds and steps. In this work, four different PSA cycles were designed and simulated using the dynamic adsorption process simulator (DAPS). The performances of these cycles were put back into the hybrid system to calculate all the costs and compare the results with the 2-bed 4-step commercial hybrid PSA-distillation process. The total operating could be reduced significantly and the distillation capacity could also be increased. For propane/propylene separation, more energy efficient configurations were designed to compete with the traditional simple distillation process which is a large energy consumer. A hypothetical adsorbent was conceived that has all the desirable and none of the undesirable properties of the commercial adsorbents already tested for this separation. Several PSA cycles configurations that utilize this hypothetical adsorbent under different operating conditions have been investigated via simulation. The results show that a hybrid PSA-distillation process is able to achieve significant energy saving compared to the traditional distillation process. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. x LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... xii LIST OF SYMBOLS ........................................................................................................... xvii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................... xxiii CHAPTER 1: METHODOLOGY FOR MODELING HYBRID PSA-DISTILLATION PROCESSES WITH ETHANOL DEHYDRATION AS AN EXAMPLE ............................................................... 1 1.1 Summary ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Hybrid Process Concept ......................................................................................... 4 1.4 Hybrid PSA-Distillation Process Configurations .................................................. 6 1.5 Reference and New Hybrid PSA-Distillation Process Flow Sheets .................... 10 1.6 Simulation Approaches ........................................................................................ 12 1.7 Results and Discussion ........................................................................................ 22 1.8 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 2: IMPROVED PSA CYCLES OF HYBRID PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION-DISTILLATION PROCESS FOR ETHANOL DEHYDRATION ............................ 49 2.1 Summary .............................................................................................................. 49 2.2 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 49 2.3 Modeling .............................................................................................................. 51 2.4 Results and Discussion ........................................................................................ 61 2.5 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 67 viii CHAPTER 3: SINGLE PSA SYSTEM AND DUAL TRAIN PSA SYSTEM FOR ETHANOL DEHYDRATION .......................................................................................... 76 3.1 Summary .............................................................................................................. 76 3.2 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 77 3.3 Single PSA System Simulation ............................................................................ 79 3.4 Dual Train PSA System Simulation .................................................................... 88 3.5 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 95 CHAPTER 4: MODELING OF HYBRID PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION-DISTILLATION PROCESS FOR PROPANE/PROPYLENE SEPARATION .......................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • International Journal of Engineering Sciences
    [Kanse*, 4.(12): December, 2015] ISSN: 2277-9655 (I2OR), Publication Impact Factor: 3.785 IJESRT INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES & RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY A REVIEW OF PERVAPORATION MEMBRANE SYSTEM FOR THE SEPARATION OF ETHANOL/WATER (AZEOTROPIC MIXTURE) Nitin G. Kanse*, Dr. S. D. Dawande * Research Scholar, Department of Chemical Engineering Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Nagpur. ABSTRACT Membrane separation process has become one of the emerging technologies that undergo a rapid growth for the past few decades. Pervaporation is the one of the membrane separation processes that have gained increasing interest in the chemical and allied industries. Pervaporation has significant advantages in separation of azeotropic systems where traditional distillation can recover pure solvents with the use of entrainers, which then must be removed using an additional separation step. Pervaporation can be used to break the azeotrope, as its mechanism of separation is quite different to that of distillation. This review presents the separation of Azeotropic mixture such as ethanol-water by using Pervaporation. The fundamental aspects of Pervaporation over different types of membrane are revived and compared. The focus of this review is on separation of azeotropic mixture by using different membrane and effect of various parameters on Pervaporation. KEYWORDS: Pervaporation, Azeotropic mixture, Membrane, selectivity. INTRODUCTION Pervaporation is a new membrane technique which is used to separate a liquid mixture by partly vaporizing it through a nonporous permselective membrane. The feed mixture is allowed to flow along one side of the membrane and a fraction of it (the ‘permeate’) is evolved in the vapor state from the opposite side, which is kept under vacuum by continuous pumping Membrane separation processes offer many advantages over existing separation processes such as higher selectivity, lower energy consumption, moderate cost to performance ratio and compact with modular design [12, 19].
    [Show full text]
  • Application of Pervaporation and Vapor Permeation in Environmental Protection
    Polish Journal of Environmental Studies Vol. 9, No. 1 (2000), 13-26 Application of Pervaporation and Vapor Permeation in Environmental Protection W. Kujawski Faculty of Chemistry, Nicholas Copernicus University, ul. Gagarina 7, 87-100 Toruń, Poland e-mail: [email protected] Abstract A review concerning pervaporation and vapor permeation - membrane separation techniques used to separate liquid mixtures, is presented. Examples of polymers for membrane preparation as well as perform- ance parameters of pervaporation and vapor permeation membranes are described. The second part of the paper presents applications of pervaporation and vapor permeation in environmental protection. At the present, liquid product mixtures must fulfill high purity requirements as well as effluents; there- fore, they have to be concentrated or reconditioned. In the process of product-integrated environmental protection, liquid substances should be separated specifically from the mainstream, either to save raw materials, to prevent or to minimize the disposal of effluents, or to recycle by-products. Such completely or partly soluble fluid mixtures can be separated with membrane methods. Pervaporation and vapor per- meation as the most well-known membrane processes for the separation of liquid and vapor mixtures allow a variety of possible application areas: i) dewatering of organic fluids like alcohols, ketones, ethers etc.; ii) separation of mixtures from narrow boiling temperatures to constant (azeotrop) boiling temperatures; iii) removal of organic pollutants from water and air streams; iv) separation of fermentation products; v) separation of organic-organic liquid mixtures. Keywords: pervaporation, vapor permeation, polymers, membrane methods, environmental protection Introduction ous organics from contaminated water in applications Most industrial scale separation processes are based such as groundwater remediation.
    [Show full text]
  • Pervatech BV, Will Give a Presentation: up to New Horizons in Ceramic Membrane Pervaporation
    PERVATECH selective ceramic membranes process design -NEWS FLASH- UP TO NEW HORIZONS IN CERAMIC MEMBRANE PERVAPORATION PRESENTATION AT THE ICOM Up to new horizons in ceramic membrane pervaporation Pervaporation is a membrane-based separation technique in which the feed stream is fed as a liquid and the permeate is evaporated through the membrane. Polymeric and ceramic membranes can be employed in this technique. In general polymeric pervaporation membranes are most suited for dehydration of organic solvents at low temperatures, whereas ceramic pervaporation membranes are utilized to dehydrate organic solvents at higher temperatures. More recently, pervaporation has earned more interest from the pharmaceutical and chemical markets, since pervaporation for dehydration is an energy-saving technique compared to conventional separation methods, like distillation. Suzhou, July 2014. With Pervatechs’ long-term experience in manufacturing ceramic pervaporation membranes it is now possible to break the azeotrope of water-solvent mixtures, like water-ethanol. The focus of Pervatech is We are happy to announce that Pervatech will be present at the ICOM 2014 Suzhou, to explore new possibilities in the field of pervaporation. With this drive and ongoing membrane the 10th International Congress on Membrane and Membrane Processes. development it has become feasible to dehydrate acetonitrile, acetyl acetate, THF, many other solvent systems and enhances esterification reactions by in situ dehydration. On Wednesday the 23rd of July 8:30uur, Frans Velterop, managing director of Pervatech BV, will give a presentation: Up to new horizons in ceramic membrane pervaporation. The ceramic membranes are produced via a sol-gel technique, a method most suited to tailor the functionality of the top-layer towards the intended application.
    [Show full text]
  • An Instructional Module on Hybrid Separations for Undergraduate
    AC 2012-3671: AN INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE ON HYBRID SEPARA- TIONS FOR UNDERGRADUATE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SEPARA- TIONS COURSES Dr. Rebecca K. Toghiani, Mississippi State University Rebecca K. Toghiani is an Associate Professor of chemical engineering at Mississippi State University. She received her B.S.ChE, M.S.ChE, and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri, Columbia. She received the 1996 Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award and the 2005 Outstanding Teach- ing Award from the ASEE Southeastern Section. A John Grisham Master Teacher at MSU, she was also an inaugural member of the Bagley College of Engineering Academy of Distinguished Teachers. She has also been recognized at MSU with the 2001 Outstanding Faculty Woman Award, the 2001 Hearin Professor of Engineering Award, and the 1999 College of Engineering Outstanding Engineering Educator Award. Dr. Priscilla J. Hill, Mississippi State University Priscilla Hill is currently an Associate Professor in the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering at Mississippi State University. She has research interests in crystallization, particle technology, popu- lation balance modeling, and process synthesis. Her teaching interests include particle technology and thermodynamics. Dr. Carlen Henington, Mississippi State University Carlen Henington is a nationally certified School Psychologist and is an Associate Professor in School Psychology at Mississippi State University. She completed her doctoral work at Texas A&M University and her internship at the Monroe Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha. She received the Texas A&M Educational Psychology Distinguished Dissertation Award in 1997, the Mississippi State University Golden Key National Honor Society Out- standing Faculty Member Award in 2000, the Mississippi State University Phi Delta Kappa Outstanding Teaching Award in 1998, and the College of Education Service Award in 2010.
    [Show full text]
  • Liquid Equilibrium Measurements in Binary Polar Systems
    DIPLOMA THESIS VAPOR – LIQUID EQUILIBRIUM MEASUREMENTS IN BINARY POLAR SYSTEMS Supervisors: Univ. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Anton Friedl Associate Prof. Epaminondas Voutsas Antonia Ilia Vienna 2016 Acknowledgements First of all I wish to thank Doctor Walter Wukovits for his guidance through the whole project, great assistance and valuable suggestions for my work. I have completed this thesis with his patience, persistence and encouragement. Secondly, I would like to thank Professor Anton Friedl for giving me the opportunity to work in TU Wien and collaborate with him and his group for this project. I am thankful for his trust from the beginning until the end and his support during all this period. Also, I wish to thank for his readiness to help and support Professor Epaminondas Voutsas, who gave me the opportunity to carry out this thesis in TU Wien, and his valuable suggestions and recommendations all along the experimental work and calculations. Additionally, I would like to thank everybody at the office and laboratory at TU Wien for their comprehension and selfless help for everything I needed. Furthermore, I wish to thank Mersiha Gozid and all the students of Chemical Engineering Summer School for their contribution of data, notices, questions and solutions during my experimental work. And finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their endless support and for the inspiration and encouragement to pursue my goals and dreams. Abstract An experimental study was conducted in order to investigate the vapor – liquid equilibrium of binary mixtures of Ethanol – Butan-2-ol, Methanol – Ethanol, Methanol – Butan-2-ol, Ethanol – Water, Methanol – Water, Acetone – Ethanol and Acetone – Butan-2-ol at ambient pressure using the dynamic apparatus Labodest VLE 602.
    [Show full text]
  • Separation of Dimethyl Carbonate and Methanol Mixture by Pervaporation Using Hybsi Ceramic Membrane
    Separation of dimethyl carbonate and methanol mixture by pervaporation using HybSi ceramic membrane Dissertation presented by Antoine GOFFINET for obtaining the master's degree in Chemical and Materials Engineering Supervisors Patricia LUIS ALCONERO Readers Iwona CYBULSKA, Denis DOCHAIN, Wenqi LI Academic year 2017-2018 Abstract In the current context of high biodiesel production, some by-products are created partic- ularly glycerol. Glycerol has a wide range of applications however its market is supersatu- rated as its production is very high. A solution found is the production of a value added com- ponent from glycerol. This value added component is the glycerol carbonate (GC) produced by transesterification reaction of glycerol with dimethyl carbonate (DMC). The reaction in- cludes four components: glycerol, DMC, GC and methanol. As methanol and DMC make up an azeotropic mixture, it is not possible to separate them by distillation. Pervaporation is a solution for this separation as it can break the azeotrope mixture and have other advantages especially energy saving. The pervaporation using polymeric membrane presents disadvan- tages as the low thermally and chemically resistance. Therefore another kind of membrane is needed. As ceramic membrane resistance is higher, the commercial HybSi ceramic is se- lected for this thesis experiments. This study aim to analyse the separation of DMC and methanol by pervaporation. The separation performance of HybSi membrane is evaluated at 40-50-60◦C with binary mixture of different concentrations. The permeation through the membrane is analysed by the solution-diffusion model. h kg i The results showed low permeate flux between 0 and 0.86 hm2 .
    [Show full text]
  • PERVATECH B.V. Pervaporation and Vapour Permeation Membrane
    PERVATECH Pervaporation and Vapour Permeation Membrane Technology in the Flavour and Fragrances Industry October 2016 Pervatech BV, Rijssen, The Netherlands * [email protected] PERVATECH Content - Pervaporation and Vapour Permeation - Applications in Flavours and Fragrances Industry - Winning of Flavours and Fragrances - Recovery of solvents - Winning of products from fermentation - Solvent purification - Product Portfolio PERVATECH Pervaporation and Vapour Permeation PERVATECH Pervaporation • Pervaporation is the separation of liquid mixtures by partial vaporization through a membrane • The heat for vaporization is dissipated from the feed PERVATECH Vapour Permeation • Vapour permeation is the separation of vapour mixtures through a membrane • No additional heat is required in the membrane module PERVATECH Economics examples PV/VP Source ECN 2013 PERVATECH Main Advantages PV/VP • Flavours & Fragrances recovery with high yield and quality • Separation of azeotrope mixtures without entrainers • Low energy consumption • High purity • Multi component mixtures with small differences in BP’s can be dehydrated • The feed mixtures to be treated may be supplied in liquid (PV) or vapour form (VP) • High degrees of flexibility regarding the feed mixtures (multi-purpose system) • In situ dehydration of condensation reactions increase the process yield and efficiency PERVATECH Applications in Flavours and Fragrances Industry PERVATECH Case : Flavour and Fragrances winning PERVATECH Flavour and Fragrances winning Applications: e.g. fruit aromas, coffee
    [Show full text]
  • Distillation • Distillation Is a Method of Separating Mixtures Based on Differences in Their Volatilities in a Boiling Liquid Mixture
    Distillation • Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. • Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction. • Commercially, distillation is used to separate crude oil itinto more frac tions for spec ific uses suc h as transport, power generation and heating. • Water is distilled to remove impurities, such as salt from seawater. • Air is distilled to separate its components— oxygen, nitrogen, and argon—for industrial use. • Distillation of fermented solutions has been used since ancient times to produce distilled beverages with a higher alcohol content. History • The first clear evidence of distillation comes from GkGreek alhlchem itists working in Alexan dr ia ithfitin the first century AD. Distilled water has been known since at least ca. 200 AD. Arabs learned the process from the Egyptians and used it extensively in their alchemical experiments. • The first clear evidence from the distillation of alcohol comes from the School of Salerno in the 12th century. Fractional distillation was developed by Tadeo Alderotti in the 13th century. • In 1500, German alchemist Hieronymus Braunschweig published the Book of the Art of Distillation, the first book solely dedicated to the subject of distillation. In 1651, John French published The Art of Distillation the first major English compendium of practice. This includes diagrams with people in them showing the industrial rather than bench scale of the operation. • Early forms of distillation were batch processes using one vaporization and one condensation. Purity was improved by further distillation of the condensate. Greater volumes were processed by simply repeating the dis tilla tion.
    [Show full text]
  • Potential of Pervaporation and Vapor Separation with Water Selective Membranes for an Optimized Production of Biofuels—A Review
    catalysts Review Potential of Pervaporation and Vapor Separation with Water Selective Membranes for an Optimized Production of Biofuels—A Review Catia Cannilla *, Giuseppe Bonura and Francesco Frusteri National Council of Research, Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies “Nicola Giordano”, CNR-ITAE, via S. Lucia sopra Contesse 5, 98126 Messina, Italy; [email protected] (G.B.); [email protected] (F.F.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +39-090-624-238 Academic Editor: Martin van Sint Annaland Received: 28 April 2017; Accepted: 4 June 2017; Published: 9 June 2017 Abstract: The development of processes based on the integration of new technologies is of growing interest to industrial catalysis. Recently, significant efforts have been focused on the design of catalytic membrane reactors to improve process performance. In particular, the use of membranes, that allow a selective permeation of water from the reaction mixture, positively affects the reaction evolution by improving conversion for all reactions thermodynamically or kinetically limited by the presence of water. In this paper, how pervaporation (PV) and vapor permeation (VP) technologies can improve the catalytic performance of reactions of industrial interest is considered. Specifically, technological approaches proposed in the literature are discussed with the aim of highlighting advantages and problems encountered in order to address research towards the optimization of membrane reactor configurations for liquid biofuel production in large scale. Keywords: pervaporation; vapor permeation; biofuels production; membranes 1. Introduction In chemical reactions which are equilibrium limited, such as etherification, acetalization, transesterification, esterification, hydrolysis or alkylation, to improve the productivity, it is possible to shift the position of equilibrium towards the products by using an excess of reactants or by removing products.
    [Show full text]
  • Pervaporation-Distillation Mixed Process: a Review
    Shadab Ahmad / International Journal of Modern Sciences and Engineering Technology (IJMSET) ISSN 2349-3755; Available at https://www.ijmset.com Volume 2, Issue 11, 2015, 50-56 Pervaporation-Distillation Mixed Process: A Review *Shadab Ahmad Environmental Engineering Department, JamiaMilliaIslamia, New Delhi, 110025. Email:[email protected] Abstract Pervaporation is one of the most dynamic areas in membrane research, and the pervaporation process has been shown to be an essential component for chemical separations. Pervaporation is a relatively new membrane separation process that has rudiments in common with reverse osmosis and membrane gas separation. It is very difficult to separate the azeotropic or constant boiling mixtures by the ordinary distillation. Mixed process which basically pairs two processes together plays an important role in separation of azeotropic or constant boiling mixtures. A mixed process basically deeds the advantages of pervaporation and distillation, while the negative aspects are minimized. Mixed systems of different types diminish energy expenses, make separations that are otherwise challenging and/or recover the degree of separation. Keywords— Mixed Process, Azeotropic, Pervaporation, Distillation, Membrane 1. INTRODUCTION During the past decade, industrial membranes have recognized themselves as crucial components of chemical processing industries. Membrane-based technology is currently regarded as the new edge of the chemical engineering and has been widely used for purification, concentration, fractionation of fluid mixtures. Pervaporation is a comparatively new membrane separation process that has some features in common with reverse osmosis and membrane gas separation. In pervaporation, the liquid mixture to be alienated (feed) is placed in contact with one side of membrane and the permeated(permeate) is removed as a low-pressure vapour from the other side.
    [Show full text]
  • Pervaporation: Promissory Method for the Bioethanol Separation of Fermentation John H
    139 A publication of CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS The Italian Association VOL. 38, 2014 of Chemical Engineering www.aidic.it/cet Guest Editors: Enrico Bardone, Marco Bravi, Taj Keshavarz Copyright © 2014, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l., ISBN 978-88-95608-29-7; ISSN 2283-9216 DOI: 10.3303/CET1438024 Pervaporation: Promissory Method for the Bioethanol Separation of Fermentation John H. Bermudez Jaimes, Mario E. T. Alvarez, Javier Villarroel Rojas, Rubens Maciel Filho Laboratory of Optimization, Design and Advanced Control, School of Chemical Engineering, State University of Campinas, Av. Albert Einstein 500, CEP 13083-862 Campinas, Brazil. [email protected] It is clear that biofuels have a positive impact in the social, environmental and economic aspects of our world. In Brazil, ethanol is produced from sugarcane and is mainly used as a biofuel for cars. However, much research is being done in order to reduce the price of ethanol. With this goal in mind, pervaporation is being studied as a recovery process for ethanol from wine from fermentation, and to simplify the distillation step in order to reduce its production costs. More specifically, this research project studies ethanol separation by pervaporation from ethanol-water mixtures. The pervaporation was evaluated at 30 °C using a hydrophobic membrane of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for ethanol recovery, using ethanol concentrations characteristic of sugarcane fermentation. Keywords: Fermentation, ethanol, membranes processes, pervaporation. 1. Introduction Biomass is a promising alternative for energy and chemicals derived from petroleum and other fossil based fuels. That is the case for the bioethanol that is produced from sugarcane in Brazil and from corn in the US (Dias et al., 2013; Renouf et al., 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • Agricultural Byproducts-Based Biosorbents for Purification Of
    Dhabhai et al. Bioresour. Bioprocess. (2018) 5:37 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40643-018-0223-7 REVIEW Open Access Agricultural byproducts‑based biosorbents for purifcation of bioalcohols: a review Ravi Dhabhai, Catherine H. Niu* and Ajay K. Dalai Abstract For the purifcation of alcohols derived from microbial fermentations, extensive processing is required. Adsorption is described as one of the most cost-efective and efcient techniques for the separation of water and purifcation of alcohols. Biobased sorbents (called biosorbents) are advantageous for dehydration of alcohols as they can be devel- oped from cost-efective feedstocks such as waste agricultural biomass or byproducts, have adsorption capacities at par with chemical adsorbents, and can be safely disposed. Alternatively, the spent adsorbents can be reused for fuel or energy production. Agricultural byproducts are low cost and abundantly available materials containing cellulose, hemicellulose, proteins, and lignin as their constituents. Biosorbents have the capability to adsorb water by the polar interaction of their hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl, and amine groups with water molecules. The pore size distribution and thermal stability of biosorbents are also industrially relevant features. They are a promising option to be used in industries for dehydration of alcohols. This paper reviews adsorptive purifcation of bioalcohols with a focus on using biosorbents, and describes their structure, global availability, water adsorption mechanism, and the use of biosorb- ents in liquid phase and vapor phase adsorption systems for the purifcation of ethanol, butanol, and other higher alcohols. Keywords: Adsorption, Biosorbents, Alcohol dehydration, Pressure swing adsorption, Purifcation Introduction as operating cost, energy requirement, process efciency Globally, energy scarcity is a major problem and it is and scale up (Prakash et al.
    [Show full text]