Optimizing the efficiency of anhydrous ethanol purification via regenerable molecular sieve

Wei-Cheng Chen, Chung-Teh Sheng, Yu-Cheng Liu, Wei-Jen Chen, Wen-Luh Huang, Shih-Hsien Chang and Wei-Che Chang

Applied Energy, 2014, vol. 135, issue C, 483-489

Abstract: In response to the global energy development trend and greenhouse effects, bio-energy applications are gradually being taken seriously. Gasohol is an alternative fuel that consists of anhydrous ethanol (purity 99.3wt% or higher) blended with gasoline, which produces less air pollution than standard car fuels. A system was constructed for bio-ethanol production from molasses feedstock. The molasses was fermented and then distilled using a distillation tower, producing up to 90wt% ethanol concentration. This sample was further concentrated using 3A-type molecular sieves to adsorb water from the ethanol samples until saturated. The sieves were then regenerated for reuse via continuous heating by high-temperature nitrogen. The response surface methodology was applied to determine an optimized operational model for regeneration of molecular sieves. The results indicate that the cost of molecular sieve regeneration (unit energy yield was 0.283L/kWh) which can stand comparison with other purify methods. The optimal parameters were at a temperature of 193°C and a heating time of 7h. 40min. The results also demonstrated that a yield of 60L anhydrous ethanol required energy consumption of 212.1kWh.

Keywords: Molecular sieves; Adsorption; Desorption; Regeneration; Anhydrous ethanol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261914009350
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:135:y:2014:i:c:p:483-489

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.08.112

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().