The Influence of Activated Carbon as Adsorbent in Adsorptive – Distillation of Ethanol–Water Mixture

Abstract

This study observed the use of activated carbon adsorbent in adsorptive distillation to increase ethanol concentrations. The different ethanol influent concentrations considered were 90% v/v and 95% v/v, and the weight of activated carbon adsorbent used was 25 g and 50 g. The temperature was maintained at the boiling point under a pressure of 1 atm, and observational data were collected every 5 to 10 minutes and tested using a densitometer. The result of this study indicates that the distillation-adsorption technique using activated carbon exceeded its azeotropic point and produced fuel-grade ethanol that satisfied all requirements. The maximum water content in the ethanol-water mixture was found to be approximately 1% v/v. The highest ethanol concentration, 99.49% v/v, was achieved in 15 minutes utilizing 50 g of Calgon-activated carbon and beginning ethanol that was 95% v/v. Meanwhile, the lowest ethanol concentration of the other research variants was achieved with 25 g of Haycarb activated carbon and 90% v/v starting ethanol at 98.27% v/v.