Novel hybrid-blower-and-evaporator-assisted distillation for separation and purification in biorefineries

Abstract

The production of biofuels and biochemicals from biomass-based feedstock, which is one of the most promising strategies for replacing petroleum-based resources and thus alleviating global warming, has received increasing attention in recent years. However, this strategy is energy-intensive due to the low product concentrations after transformation step. In this study, a novel hybrid-blower-and-evaporator-assisted distillation configuration (HBED) was proposed for enhancing process efficiency in bioproduct production from biomass. Several important industrial cases have been investigated to demonstrate the proposed configuration. By applying HBED, light components are partially removed in an evaporator, and the latent heat can be circulated during the process, leading to a substantial improvement in energy efficiency. A blower can increase the energy efficiency of an evaporator significantly, while the combination of an evaporator and blower can substantially reduce the size, capital cost, and operating cost of the distillation column. The results show that the proposed HBED configuration can achieve significant energy savings. Notably, the operating costs can be reduced by up to 45.4%, 26.3%, and 36.7% for the levulinic acid, 2,3-butanediol, and furfural purification processes, respectively. Furthermore, the CO2 emissions of a conventional column and the proposed configuration are evaluated and compared.