Recovery of Ethanol from Fermentation Broths by Catalytic Conversion to Gasoline. 2. Energy Analysis

Abstract

A process for recovering ethanol from fermentation beers by catalytic conversion to hydrocarbons is described and analyzed in terms of energy requirements. The process thermally Integrates an energy-consuming initial distillation step with an energy-producing reaction step resulting In significantly reduced net energy requirements. It is found that the optimum distillation overhead composition is 60 wt % ethanol. The net energy requirement of this process is found to be 1800 Btu/gal of ethanol processed, which compares very favorably with alternative separation processes for simply recovering ethanol. © 1984, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.