Energy Evaluation of Ethanol Dehydration with Glycol Mixture as Entrainer

Khadidja Benyahia (1) , Hassiba Benyounes (1) , Weifeng Shen (2, 3)

1 Laboratoire Physique-Chimie des Matériaux Catalyse et Environnement - LPCME (Oran, Algérie)
2 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique
3 Clarkson University

Extractive distillation of ethanol dehydration using glycols as entrainers is proposed. Specifically, ethanol dehydration of an azeotropic mixture in the presence of ethylene glycol + glycerol mixture is evaluated. Simulation is performed and the vapor‐liquid equilibrium of ethanol + water + ethylene glycol + glycerol is predicted with the NRTL model. Minimization of energy consumption in both extractive and regeneration columns is attempted. Optimal operating parameters of the process including glycol concentration in the solvent mixture, main feed, and entrainer feed trays, total number of theoretical trays, and heat supplied to the reboiler are determined in order to achieve a specified distillate purity of 99.9 mol % ethanol.

Mots clés: Ethanol dehydration; Extractive distillation; Glycol; NRTL model

Domaines: Génie chimique; Génie des procédés

Khadidja Benyahia, Hassiba Benyounes, Weifeng Shen. Energy Evaluation of Ethanol Dehydration with Glycol Mixture as Entrainer. Chemical Engineering and Technology, 2014, 37 (6), pp.987-994. ⟨10.1002/ceat.201300872⟩. ⟨hal-01888772⟩