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Energy efficiency of acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) recovery by heat-integrated distillation

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Abstract

Acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) is an alternative biofuel. However, the energy requirement of ABE recovery by distillation is considered elevated (> 15.2 MJ fuel/Kg-ABE), due to the low concentration of ABE from fermentation broths (between 15 and 30 g/l). In this work, to reduce the energy requirements of ABE recovery, four processes of heat-integrated distillation were proposed. The energy requirements and economic evaluations were performed using the fermentation broths of several biocatalysts. Energy requirements of the processes with four distillation columns and three distillation columns were similar (between 7.7 and 11.7 MJ fuel/kg-ABE). Double-effect system (DED) with four columns was the most economical process (0.12–0.16 $/kg-ABE). ABE recovery from dilute solutions by DED achieved energy requirements between 6.1 and 8.7 MJ fuel/kg-ABE. Vapor compression distillation (VCD) reached the lowest energy consumptions (between 4.7 and 7.3 MJ fuel/kg-ABE). Energy requirements for ABE recovery DED and VCD were lower than that for integrated reactors. The energy requirements of ABE production were between 1.3- and 2.0-fold higher than that for alternative biofuels (ethanol or isobutanol). However, the energy efficiency of ABE production was equivalent than that for ethanol and isobutanol (between 0.71 and 0.76) because of hydrogen production in ABE fermentation.

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Abbreviations

ABE:

Acetone, butanol, and ethanol

DE:

Double-effect

FABE :

Production flow of ABE (kg/h)

HS :

Energy consumption of the separation (MJ/kg-ABE)

IRC:

Investment cost of recovery ($/kg-ABE)

LHV:

Lower heating value of solvents (MJ/kg-ABE)

M&S:

Marshall and Swift equipment cost index

ORC:

Operational cost of recovery ($/kg-ABE)

Rs:

The ABE yield (g-ABE/g-substrate)

TRC:

Total recovery cost ($/kg-ABE)

TIC:

The total investment cost ($)

TOAC:

The total operational annualized cost ($/year)

tri :

Payback period (year)

ta :

Annual operation time (h)

VC:

Vapor compression

VLE:

Vapor–liquid equilibrium

3DC:

Three distillation columns

3DC-VC:

Three distillation columns with vapor compression

4DC:

Three distillation columns

4DC-DE:

Four distillation columns with double-effect

5DC:

Five distillation columns

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Colombian Administrative Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation (COLCIENCIAS) for the financial support that made this work possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

    Victor Hugo Grisales Diaz

  2. Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computation Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Manizales, Cra. 27 No. 64-60, Manizales, Colombia

    Gerard Olivar Tost

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Correspondence to Victor Hugo Grisales Diaz.

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Grisales Diaz, V.H., Olivar Tost, G. Energy efficiency of acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) recovery by heat-integrated distillation. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 41, 395–405 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-017-1874-z

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