Simulation and experiment for ethanol dehydration using low transition temperature mixtures (LTTMs) as entrainers

Abstract

In this work, the separation of ethanol-water azeotrope which was choosing low transition temperature mixtures (LTTMs) as entrainers was investigated through process simulation and batch extractive distillation experiment. Based on the vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) curves of ethanol-water with LTTMs and the residual curves of LTTMs-ethanol-water, glycolic acid–choline chloride 3:1(GC3:1) was selected as the entrainer to simulate ethanol-water mixtures separation, and the sensitive analysis was performed in order to determine the main design variables. On this basis, the traditional process was further improved through the optimization of heat exchanger network, and the energy consumption was reduced by 46.24% and 37.00% compared with the ethylene glycol and 1-Ethyl3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([EMIM][BF4]), respectively. In addition, GC3:1 was synthesized and used as solvent to separate the mixture of ethanol-water in the batch extractive distillation, which can obtain high-purity ethanol at the top of distillation column. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrum (FT-IR) was used to analyze the recycled GC3:1, and it suggested that the chemical properties of GC3:1 were stable and GC3:1 could be reused depending on the infrared spectrum of used GC3:1. The advantage of GC3:1 as entrainer for the separation of ethanol-water azeotrope was proved through the combination of process simulation and experiment.