Abstract

LAUZURIQUE-GUERRA, Yeney; ZUMALACARREGUI-DE CARDENAS, Lourdes; PEREZ-ONES, Osney  and  MOLINA-RIVERO, Geli. Evaluation of ethanol dehydration techniques applying simulation. Dyna rev.fac.nac.minas [online]. 2017, vol.84, n.200, pp.185-192. ISSN 0012-7353.  https://doi.org/10.15446/dyna.v84n200.54230.

Three ethanol dehydration techniques were studied: azeotropic distillation with benzene, pervaporation and adsorption with molecular sieves. Each technique was simulated with HYSYS v3.2 process simulator. In order to compare, the same ethanol molar flow was established for ethanol-water mixture (216.5 kmol/h). Ethanol molar composition was higher than 99.7% for all technologies. Slightly lower composition was obtained for the extractive distillation. The influence of operating parameters on the efficiency of simulated technologies was determined by analyzing three case studies. Temperature, molar flows of liquid and vapor and composition profiles through the columns were analyzed for each process. According to economic evaluation techniques, all the alternatives are economically advantageous because of net profits. The greatest benefits are obtained for adsorption with molecular sieves because of its highest relative net present value.

Keywords : dehydration; anhydrous ethanol, simulation.

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