Purification of bioethanol using extractive batch distillation: Simulation and experimental studies

Pacheco-Basulto, Juan Angel; Hernandez-McConville, Diego; Barroso-Muñoz, Fabricio Omar; Hernandez, Salvardor; Segovia‐Hernández, Juan Gabriel; Castro‐Montoya, Agustín Jaime; Bonilla-Petriciolet, Adrián

doi:10.1016/j.cep.2012.06.015

Cited by 40 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…After fermentation process to produce bioethanol, the mixture can have up to 10% ethanol which is enriched to azeotropic point by distillation. Pure bioethanol is produced by extractive distillation of the azeotrope [29]. For this reason the effect of water addition in SB ethanolysis was studied.…”

Section: Study Of the Reactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogen production through sodium borohydride ethanolysis

Arzac

Fernández

2015

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

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In this work, sodium borohydride (SB) ethanolysis was explored for the first time as a method to generate hydrogen for Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells. Ethanolysis by-product was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Metal and acid catalysts were tested. RuCl 3 3H 2 O was the best metal catalyst. Acetic acid was selected for the study because of its effectiveness, low cost and relative greenness. The maximum gravimetric hydrogen density obtained was 2.1 % wt. The addition of water produces an increase in hydrogen generation rate and a decrease in conversion. The use of ethanol-methanol mixtures produces an increase in reaction rates in absence of catalyst. As a proof of concept the reaction was performed in a small reactor which operates by the addition of ethanolic acetic acid solutions to solid SB (in the form of granules). The reactor produces stable and constant hydrogen generation in the range of 20-80ml.min -1 during 1h at constant temperature (around 27-35ºC). 1.IntroductionAt present, hydrogen is being considered as a clean energy carrier that may contribute to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and the greenhouse effect produced by their use.Hydrogen has a high energy density (39.4 kWh.kg -1 while for hydrocarbons is 13.1kWh.kg -1 ) and its reaction with oxygen produces energy and water as only byproduct. However, the use of hydrogen faces many challenges related to clean production, transport, storage and combustion (direct or in a fuel cell). Regarding hydrogen storage, great efforts have been made in these years to develop suitable materials with high gravimetric and volumetric density. Boron based hydrides are very attractive because of the combination of their lightweight and high hydrogen content [1-3]. Among them, sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 , SB) is the most studied because of its stability in dry air and safe handling [4][5][6]. Although it is no longer recommended for vehicular use, it still has potential for portable and niche applications [5]. SB produces hydrogen through catalysed solvolysis reactions. Sodium borohydride hydrolysis (reaction 1) is the most studied solvolytic reaction and has a potential gravimetric hydrogen density (GHD) around 10.8 % wt. Reaction (1) has demonstrated to be versatile enough to produce hydrogen in reactors in a wide range of rates (0-6L.min -1 ) and with interesting effective GHDs (up to 9 wt% when employing solid SB and around 4 wt% when using stabilized SB solutions) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. NaBH 4 + 2 H 2 O → 4H 2 + NaBO 2 (1)As an alternative to the use of water, alcohols have been proposed as efficient solvolytic agents. In particular, methanolysis (reaction of SB with methanol, CH 3 OH) has been reported (2) as advantageous because its high potential gravimetric hydrogen density (GHD 4.9 wt%), the possibility of sub-zero hydrogen generation, and the fact that the reaction product (NaB(OCH 3 ) 4 ) does not have tendency to plug the reactors as occurs with NaBO 2 [13][14]...

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Section: Study Of the Reactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogen production through sodium borohydride ethanolysis

Arzac

Fernández

2015

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

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“…In this work, a new separation process that involves the use of microbubbles has been explored to investigate its feasibility for breaking the azeotrope of the ethanol‐water mixture. The purification of ethanol has been the focus of many recent studies as ethanol is one of the most widely used biofuels and any improvements in its production could potentially lead to significant reductions in environmental pollution …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separation of azeotropic mixtures using air microbubbles generated by fluidic oscillation

et al. 2015

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The feasibility of separating the azeotropic mixture of ethanol-water using microbubble-mediated batch distillation is presented. The effects of the depth of the liquid mixture in the bubble tank and of the inlet air microbubble temperature on the process efficiency were investigated. The enrichment of ethanol in the vapor phase was higher than that achieved at equilibrium conditions for all liquid ethanol mole fractions considered, including the azeotrope. On decreasing the depth of the liquid mixture and increasing the temperature of the air microbubbles, the separation efficiency of ethanol was improved. Ethanol with purity of about 98.2 vol % was obtained using the lowest liquid level (3 mm) in conjunction with the highest air microbubble temperature (908C). Separation was achieved with a small rise in the temperature of the liquid mixture (48C) at a depth of 3 mm and evaporation time of 90 min making this system suitable for treating thermally sensitive mixtures.

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“…Xu and Wang (2006) conducted batch extractive distillation experiments and found an effective entrainer 1,2-propanediol for tetrahydrofuran dehydration process. Pacheco-Basulto et al (2012) carried out batch extractive distillation experiments for the dehydration of bioethanol with ethylene glycol or ionic liquids. Van Kaam et al (2008) verified their feasibility analysis by experiments for separating chloroform-methanol mixture in batch extractive distillation.…”

Section: Experimental Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of extractive distillation. Process design, operation, optimization and control

Gerbaud

Rodríguez-Donis

Hégely

et al. 2019

Chemical Engineering Research and Design

210

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Operation and control Extractive distillation processes enable the separation of non-ideal mixtures, including minimum or maximum boiling azeotropes and low relative volatility mixtures. Unlike azeotropic distillation, the entrainer fed at another location than the main mixture induces an extractive section within the column. A general feasibility criterion shows that intermediate and light entrainers and heterogeneous entrainers are suitable along common heavy entrainers. Entrainer selection rules rely upon selectivity ratios and residue curve map (rcm) topology including univolatility curves. For each type of entrainer, we define extractive separation classes that summarize feasibility regions, achievable products and entrainer-feed flow rate ratio limits. Case studies are listed as Supplementary materials. Depending on the separation class, a direct or an indirect split column configuration will allow to obtain a distillate product or a bottom product, which is usually a saddle point of rcm. Batch and continuous process operations differ mainly by the feasible ranges for the entrainer-feed flow rate ratio and reflux ratio. The batch process is feasible under total reflux and can orient the still path by changing the reflux policy. Optimisation of the extractive process must systematically consider the extractive column along with the entrainer regeneration column that requires energy and may limit the product purity in the extractive column through recycle. For the sake of reducing the energy cost and the total cost, pressure change can be beneficial as it affects volatility, or new process structures can be devised, namely heat integrated extractive distillation, extractive divided wall column or processes with preconcentrator.

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Purification of bioethanol using extractive batch distillation: Simulation and experimental studies

Cited by 40 publications

References 12 publications

Hydrogen production through sodium borohydride ethanolysis

Hydrogen production through sodium borohydride ethanolysis

Separation of azeotropic mixtures using air microbubbles generated by fluidic oscillation

Review of extractive distillation. Process design, operation, optimization and control

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