Energy-Efficient Biobutanol Recovery Process Using 1-Heptanol Extraction

Abstract

Biobutanol is an attractive fuel, owing to its abundant lignocellulose utilization and the similarity of its physical properties to those of gasoline. Biobutanol recovery from its fermentation broth is crucial for large-scale production because of the high costs involved. Extraction considerably reduces the energy demand for distillation, which is extensively used for its recovery. A new solvent, 1-heptanol, was used for extraction in this study, and its thermodynamic model parameters were derived based on liquid-liquid equilibrium data obtained via molecular simulations and experimental measurements. The results of the process design obtained with commercial design software indicated that the energy requirement was significantly lower than those of previously reported processes with comparable investments.