ETHANOL DEHYDRATION.

Abstract

This is the tenth in a series of articles dealing with some of the fundamentals of the distillation of ethyl alcohol (ethanol). This paper is concerned with separation of an azeotrope mixture of ethanol and water by using the following techniques: absorption by molecular sieves, starch, cellulose, etc. ; extractive distillation; azeotropic distillation; and vacuum distillation. Of the systems described in this article, those most commonly used are azeotropic distillation with benzene or pentane, extractive distillation with gasoline, and absorption with molecular sieves. It is essential that these complex systems be designed adequately to provide the near 200 proof ethanol that is the desired and valuable product used in gasohol.