Abstract
Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is attractive for final separation in the process of water removal especially for fuel ethanol production. Despite many researches on simulation and experimental works on adsorption of water on 3A zeolite in a fixed bed, none have studied a process with the actual PSA system. The purpose of this research was to study the PSA process with two adsorbers and effects of several parameters. The research also included analysis of kinetic and thermodynamic data of ethanol-water adsorption on commercial 3A zeolites in a single fixed bed. A two-level factorial design experiment was used in this research work to preliminarily screen the influence and interaction among the factors. Effects of important parameters such as initial temperature, feed concentration and feed rate were investigated. It was proven that the Langmuir isotherm could best predict the experimental results. In the PSA pilot test, the principal factors, which had effects on the performance, were feed rate, feed concentration, adsorption pressure and the cycle time. Prediction of the process efficiency in terms of ethanol recovery and enrichment was proposed in the form of regression models. The results of the study in a fixed bed adsorber could help designing a pilot-scale PSA unit. The experiments proved to be successful in terms of producing high concentration ethanol with high percentage of ethanol recovery. With further simulation work the process could be scaled up for an industrial use.
Highlights
Azeotropic distillation has been employed in production of fuel-ethanol
There have been several researches on adsorption of water from ethanol/water mixture which can be categorized into two types of researches that include numerical simulation of dehydration of ethanol and water mixture[1,2,3,4] and experimental works to study the effects of its operating parameters in a single column packed bed of 3A zeolite[5,6,7]
In the second phase of the study, the pilot modeling of the cyclic Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) process was designed along with its control system (Fig. 2) based on the results found in the first phase
Summary
Azeotropic distillation has been employed in production of fuel-ethanol. Benzene has been banned in several countries for its carcinogenic effect, cyclohexane is still being employed This distillation method is very energy intensive. The effects of feed flow rate, feed concentration, adsorption temperature and adsorption pressure are among the interesting factors that are examined Through these studies, it is suggested that dehydration by adsorption on 3A zeolite has the advantage that the micropores are too small to be penetrated by alcohol molecules so that water is adsorbed without competition in the liquid phase. It is suggested that dehydration by adsorption on 3A zeolite has the advantage that the micropores are too small to be penetrated by alcohol molecules so that water is adsorbed without competition in the liquid phase It requires little energy input and operates on cycles of short duration.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
