Grade Bioethanol Research Articles

Unlocking Indonesia's sweet sorghum potential: A techno-economic analysis of small-scale integrated sorghum-based fuel grade bioethanol industry

To expand the utilization of sweet sorghum as bioethanol feedstock, an initial study of the feasibility completed with techno-economic analysis of an integrated small-scale sweet sorghum-based bioethanol industry (capacity of 4 kL/d) located in East Java, Indonesia is exemplified in this paper. Bioethanol is produced from pressed sorghum juice, while other parts of the sorghum plant, i.e. grains, leaves, and residual biomass, are used to produce other valuable products such as sorghum flour, rice, bran, and biopellet. The feasibility of producing bioethanol from sweet sorghum as raw material can be achieved if all by-products and parts of sorghum that have not been utilized are also converted to valuable products. The results of techno-economic calculations show that the use of sweet sorghum for bioethanol and by-products is feasible to develop fuel grade bioethanol industry with an NPV of IDR 47.5 billion, IRR 28.0 %, and a payback period of 4.10 years.

Adsorption method using zeolite to produce fuel grade bioethanol

Bitter cassava (Manihot glaziovii) has the potential to be converted into bioethanol. However, the distillation process can only purify it to 95% bioethanol. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out an adsorption process to obtain 99.8% bioethanol. This study aimed to investigate the effect of bitter cassava starch hydrolysis time and coral rock in the distillation column on glucose and bioethanol concentrations, respectively. Additionally, the study discussed the effect of adsorbent height (60, 80, 100, or 120 cm) in the adsorption column on bioethanol concentration. There are three main stages for obtaining fuel-grade bioethanol: (i) bitter cassava hydrolysis, (ii) bioethanol production, and (iii) bioethanol purification (distillation and adsorption). Zeolite 4A and natural zeolite were used as adsorbents in this study. The results showed that the best fermentation was obtained at 90 hours, resulting in an ethanol concentration of 13.82% (v/v), which could be purified up to 95.64% through distillation. Furthermore, further purification (adsorption) could extend fuel-grade bioethanol (99.62% and 98.42%). Another analysis also indicated that zeolite 4A was more feasible than natural zeolite for producing fuel-grade bioethanol.

Kinetics of oxidative bio-ethanol reforming over bimetallic structured catalysts

The core of this work is a comprehensive investigation of ethanol oxidative reforming kinetics over a Pt–Ni/CeO2–Al2O3 catalyst in the presence of fuel grade bioethanol, which has been very rarely investigated in the past. The developed kinetic model also included the formation of solid carbon. The results show that the reaction scheme involving ethylene and acetaldehyde formation from ethanol, their subsequent decomposition, methane oxidation as well as steam reforming and water gas shift reaction is able to assure a satisfactory fitting of the experimental data. Moreover, the above formulation, deposited on a porous support (Ni–Fe foam), was employed for a very long stability test (almost 400 h) and subjected to several oxidation-reduction cycles: at 600 °C, after 170 h of time-on-stream, a stable ethanol conversion of 95% and hydrogen yield of 35% were recorded, with near-zero carbon emission during its thermochemical conversion for energy generation.

Experimental study of the oxidative steam reforming of fuel grade bioethanol over Pt–Ni metallic foam structured catalysts

In this work, Pt–Ni/CeO2 catalysts have been used for the oxidative steam reforming of fuel grade bioethanol. To transfer the above formulation on structured carriers, due to the requirement of a washcoat (wc) deposition, it was mandatory to carry out a preliminary study on the catalysts in the form of powder. An initial experimental campaign was performed to optimise the ceria loading (between 25 and 45 wt%) as well as the Pt content (between 2 and 5 wt%): stability tests were carried out for 24 h at 500 °C, WHSV = 12.3 h−1, H2O/C2H5OH ratio of 4, O2/C2H5OH of 0.5. The highest activity, selectivity and durability was recorded over the 3Pt–10Ni/35CeO2/wc, which assured an ethanol conversion of almost 98% at the end of the test with a corresponding H2 yield of 50%. This interesting formulation was transferred on a Ni–Fe substrate, made of an open cell foam, which was tested under the same operative conditions described above: the structured catalyst, due to the very good heat management within the catalytic bed and the improved mass transport, displayed a more stable behaviour compared to the corresponding powder, even in the presence of the typical bioethanol impurities; moreover, the formation of unwanted by-products was negligible throughout the whole investigated interval.

Fuel grade bioethanol reforming in a fluidized bed reactor over highly durable Pt-Ni/CeO2-SiO2 catalysts

In this work, oxidative steam reforming reaction has been investigated in a fluidized bed reactor (FBR) under a fuel grade bioethanol feeding over a 2Pt-10Ni/CeO2-SiO2 catalyst. In a process intensification view, the selection of raw feeds produced from bioethanol paves the way towards a cheaper production of bio-hydrogen. The employed catalyst was prepared by the sequential wet impregnation method and was tested alone as well as in the presence of the bare support as filler of the FBR. Very long durability tests (hundreds of hours) were performed at 500°C under a stream with a water to ethanol ratio of 4 and oxygen to ethanol ratio of 0.5. When the catalyst was tested along with the support, a stable behaviour was recorded for 100 h of time-on-stream (TOS), corresponding to complete ethanol conversion and H2 yield values above 50%. However, for higher TOS, a gradual catalyst deactivation was observed and, after 400 h, hydrogen yield was below 10%. Conversely, the catalyst alone displayed complete conversion form more than 200 hours and, after a partial deactivation, a new stationary condition was reached with no more activity loss. Both the spent catalysts were characterized by several techniques, finding that the presence of the filler promote methane decomposition and coke deposition on catalyst surface. On the other hand, a very low carbon formation rate was recorded over the 2Pt-10Ni/CeO2-SiO2 catalyst, which was shown to be a very promising formulation in comparison with data available in the recent literature.

Intensified chemical looping reforming processes with in-situ CO2 capture for high purity H2 production from non-fuel grade bioethanol

This work presents the design and optimization of two intensified and eco-friendly schemes for high purity H2 production from non-fuel grade/undistiled bioethanol through detailed thermodynamic investigation using Aspen plus models. Both of them are chemical looping combustion (CLC) integrated processes; namely, sorption enhanced steam reforming (CLC-SESR) and sorption enhanced chemical looping reforming (CLC-SECLR). Further, the heat and power demand of these processes are met by integrating with heat recovery and steam generation, and power generation sections, thus making them energy-wise self-sustainable. Steady-state Aspen Plus models have been developed for both the schemes, and the processes are investigated thermodynamically to determine the optimal operating parameters through sequential parametric sensitivity analysis. The results demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed CLC-SESR and CLC-SECLR schemes in facilitating low temperature reforming of partially distilled bioethanol of 14 mole % (34.5% by vol.) concentration at 550 °C and 500 °C, respectively resulting in optimal H2 yield (H2Yield) of 97.38% and 82.45%, H2 purity (yH2) of 99.15% and 99.71 %, energy efficiency (η) of 39.47% and 37.30% along with CO2 capture efficiency (CO2Capture) of 99.13% and 99.58%, respectively. Further, reforming of undistilled bioethanol 5 mol% (14.6% by vol.) obtained directly from fermentation step, resulted in improved H2Yield, yH2 and CO2Capture of 99.92%, 99.63%, and 99.48% respectively for CLC-SESR and 83.31%, 99.91% and 99.71% respectively for CLC-SECLR, at the expense of slight decrease in η by ≈ 3% in both schemes. These results on comparison with the results of conventional steam reforming and chemical looping reforming with carbon capture demonstrate the outperformance of proposed schemes in terms of achieving more than 99% H2Yield, yH2 and CO2Capture at almost the same efficiency as of the conventional reforming schemes.

Stability of bimetallic Ni/CeO2–SiO2 catalysts during fuel grade bioethanol reforming in a fluidized bed reactor

Oxidative steam reforming of bioethanol has been investigated in a fluidized bed reactor under atmospheric pressure at 500 °C over Pt–Ni/CeO2–SiO2 and Ru–Ni/CeO2–SiO2 catalysts, prepared with a noble metal content in the range 0–3 wt%. A preliminary investigation of the bimetallic catalysts performance was performed under a simulated bioethanol/oxygen stream (C2H5OH:H2O:O2:Ar = 10:40:5:45) at 500 °C and WHSV = 61.7 h−1. Poor stability was recorded over the low-loaded samples of both the series and the highest ethanol conversion as well as H2 yield after 25 h of time-on-stream were recorded over the 2 Pt–10Ni/CeO2–SiO2 catalyst. In fact, a growth in the content of the noble metal assured an improvement in terms of resistance towards deactivation. However, a further increase up to 2 wt% was detrimental for both Pt and Rh-based catalysts. The most durable catalyst (2 Pt–10Ni) was additionally tested under a raw bioethanol stream (commercial fuel grade bioethanol) for 100 h at 4.1 h−1: complete conversion and a stable H2 yield above 50% was obtained; the characterization of the spent catalyst mainly revealed the formation of filamentous coke, which is expected to cause a low extent of deactivation. As a result, no apparent activity loss was observed and the bimetallic catalyst appeared a promising candidate for reforming of crude ethanol.

Eco-friendly and inexpensive food grade bioethanol for Eugenia uniflora L. chromatographic fingerprinting: A trade-off between separation and sustainability

• Green and efficient HPLC fingerprinting method for E. uniflora leaves. • Bioethanol (food grade) as a component of the mobile phase for analysis by HPLC-PAD. • Higher environmental and separation performance. • Replacement of toxic solvents with non-toxic and sustainable solvents for analysis by HPLC-PAD. In this work, we developed a green HPLC-PAD method to fingerprint Eugenia uniflora L. leaves by employing Design of Experiments with inexpensive food grade bioethanol as mobile-phase organic modifier aiming to cover Green Analytical Chemistry (GAC) principles and concepts. Initially, two different chromatographic columns coupled with five chromatographic factors were screened employing a Fractional Factorial Design. Once the phenyl-hexyl column was chosen and the most important factors were known, they were optimized in a Central Composite Design (CCD). Outcomes were monitored using two multiparametric responses: Green Chromatographic Fingerprinting Response (GCFR) with modifications and HPLC-EAT (Environmental Assessment Tool), and Derringer’s desirability function was employed to reach a trade-off between them. The Response Surface Methodology (RSM) strategy enabled the prediction of the optimized chromatographic conditions as 5.26–52.63 % of the food grade bioethanol (95 °GL) in 30 min, at 35 °C, and 0.6 mL min −1 . The simultaneous consideration of environmental and separation parameters led to the successful development of a validated HPLC-PAD method more efficient, cheaper, and almost 3-fold greener when compared with a preliminary reference method reported in the literature, also being applicable even by small laboratories without cutting-edge instrumentation.

Study on the utilization of low-grade bioethanol on SI gasoline engine as a mixture of pure gasoline fuel or with the addition of oxygenated additives to improve performance and reduce emissions

Utilization Currently, bioethanol has developed into additional fuel or substitute fuel for motorcars as a renewable energy source. Although Indonesia has great potential for developing bioethanol, its utilization continues to be very low. In certain areas in Indonesia, bioethanol is produced on a tiny low scale grade (hydrous) and is barely used as a drink; therefore research and development of the utilization of bioethanol in motorcars are needed, where the grade must be higher (anhydrous). Hydrous bioethanol has slightly different characteristics compared to anhydrous bioethanol. Octane is lower, heating value is lower, the heat energy of vaporization is higher, and the oxygen content is higher. However, the precise values for every characteristic rely on the mixture content and therefore the water content contained so a separate test of the hydrous bioethanol is required. This study could be a study of the utilization of hydrous bioethanol produced from low-grade bioethanol which is converted to high- grade bioethanol through a distillation process using motorcycle exhaust gas as a heat source which is applied to a compact-distillation system consisting of an evaporator, separator, and condenser to distil low-grade bioethanol (around 30%) becomes high-grade bioethanol (> 90%). Followed by testing the utilization of anhydrous bioethanol mixed with gasoline in SI gasoline engines, the composition of the mixture E0, E5, E10, and E15 and therefore the composition of the mixture with the addition of oxygenated additives (cyclohexanol) as secondary alcohols to further improve performance and reduce gas emissions throw it away.

Design and evaluation of a zero-fossil fuel distiller for bioethanol

The study developed a Zero Fossil Fuel Distiller (ZFFD) to address environmental issues on bioethanol production from Nipa Sap. The Mariano Marcos State University had developed a distiller that can produce 95% fuel grade bioethanol powered by fuelwood. While burning woods provides a good heat source, this activity’s byproducts are not good for the environment. The scarcity of fuelwood will also be a problem for bulk production. Hence, the development of a ZFFD integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for easy monitoring, control, and configuration. A 10 kWp Hybrid Solar Photovoltaic System with battery backup was designed to power a 150 L capacity distiller. The power system is capable of storing excess harnessed energy to a battery and a grid for future use, as well as managing and monitoring the inflow and outflow of electricity on-site or remotely via IoT. Results show an average harnessed energy of 47.11 kWh to supply a 33.99 kWh required energy to distill 133 L of feedstock daily. The excess energy of 13.12 kWh is stored in the grid for future use. The developed ZFFD shows an improved regulation of the Kettle temperature, Column temperature, and Cooling System water flow.

Fuel Grade Bioetanol Production from Suweg Starch Through Distilation-Adsorption Process Using Natural Zeolite

Suweg (Amorphophallus campanulatus B) is a sweet tuber which has starch content around 77%, it is suitable as raw material for fuel grade bioethanol production. Bioethanol is ethanol derived from biomass. Fuel grade bioethanol must have a minimum concentration 99.5%. This research will study the effect of zeolite adsorbent concentration on the ethanol purification. The manufacture of fuel grade bioethanol through hydrolysis, fermentation, and purification via distillation and adsorption. Hydrolysis and fermentation (SSF) were carried out on Suweg starch at concentration of 250 g/L using StargenTM 002 at a concentration of 1.5% (w/w) and a concentration of 5 g/L Saccharomyces cerevisiae for 78 hours, producing maximum crude ethanol at a concentration of 14.09% for 54 hours. Furthermore, this crude ethanol is purified using two-stage distillation for 105 minutes and adsorption using natural zeolite with various concentration of 30-90% (w/v) for 120 minutes. The best results of distillation purification produce ethanol concentration of 94.78% (v/v) for 90 minutes, while the adsorption process stage produces 99.62% bioethanol using 90% (w/v) zeolite for 90 minutes.

TECHNO-ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF TRANSFORMING SORGHUM BAGASSE INTO BIOETHANOL FUEL IN NIGERIA: 1 - PROCESS MODELLING, SIMULATION, AND COST ESTIMATION

Apart from the environmental threats posed by fossil fuel due to emissions of greenhouse gases (majorly CO2), Nigeria's economy's continuous reliance on only one source of fuel production is unsustainable, hence, the need to consider diversification and alternative sources of energy generation and fuel production. This work aims to model and simulate the process of transforming sorghum bagasse into a fuel grade bioethanol via the use of Aspen HYSYS and MATLAB for the development and evaluation of cost implications and demand of the concerned plant studied. The study of process plant models shows that 189 g of fuel grade bioethanol will be obtainable from a kilogram of sorghum bagasse based on the condition employed in the modeling of the process. Cost analysis indicates that it would require a capital and operation cost worth of $1.92 and $ 0.83, respectively, to produce a liter of fuel grade bioethanol from sorghum bagasse.

Microwave assisted acid hydrolysis for bioethanol fuel production from sago pith waste

Microwave assisted acid hydrolysis (H2SO4 and HCl with >0.5 mol/L) to produce bioethanol from sago pith waste (SPW) was studied. The energy consumption for microwave hydrolysis at different energy inputs and acid concentration were calculated. The overall energy consumption for bioethanol fuel production from SPW was assessed. A maximum of 88% glucose yield and 80% ethanol yield (3.1 g ethanol per 10 g SPW) were obtained using 1.0 mol/L H2SO4. Microwave hydrolysis using 1.0 mol/L H2SO4 consumed the minimum energy of 8.1 kJ to produce 1 g glucose from SPW when energy input was fixed at 54 kJ (900 W for 1 min). In general, 1 g glucose can produce 16 kJ. The overall energy consumption for fuel grade bioethanol production from SPW was 31.77 kJ per g ethanol, which was slightly higher than the lower heating values of ethanol (26.74 kJ/g ethanol).

The use of low grade bio ethanol as fuel mixer in gasoline engine with optimization compact distillator

Limited fossil energy resources need to encourage renewable energy development and energy conservation it is called green energy development. One of the alternative energy sources used are bioethanol, from low grade is converted into high grade through distillation process with distillator compact that will be used as a mixture of gasoline. Tests compact distillator consisting of evaporator Indonesia Kampus, separator, and condenser by utilizing exhaust gas to heat distillator already filled with low grade bioethanol, so the heat transfer occurs on the surface of the exhaust into the evaporator chamber. In the evaporator will transform ethanol into the vapor phase. Ethanol vapor flows into the separator, with a mechanism in it is expected that water vapor will evaporate participate separately with ethanol vapor. Ethanol vapors from this distillation will flow to the condenser and will be turned into liquid, the liquid is as high grade bioethanol would be the fuel mixing gasoline. In early studies, distillation rate was 98.5 ml/h with 67% ethanol content. Optimization compact distillator is done by adding the valve at the evaporator branch. When heat has reached 80°C exhaust gas flow to the evaporator chamber is closed. As a result, the heat from the evaporator can be detained and not rise significantly. Further optimization is to change the design of the separator through theoretical and empirical calculations with some assumptions based on the rule of thumb in the field of distillation, adding insulation to reduce heat leakage, as well as varying the feed volume and feed concentrate ethanol. In the end, based on the parameters of the distillation rate and ethanol concentrate, compact distillator with distances between tray 100 mm, volume 800 ml, engine speed 5.400 rpm can produce distillation rate of 274.3 ml/hr and ethanol concentrate of 88.97%.

Fuel Grade Bioethanol Production from Iles-iles (Amorphophaluscampanulatus) Tuber

Fuel grade bioethanol production as an alternative fuel is desirable to substitute fossil fuel as diminishing energy source from petroleum. Bioethanol production from Iles-iles (Amorphophaluscampanulatus) tuber as alternative fuel has been conducted by hydrolysis followed by fermentation. The purification of bioethanol product was performed by distillation (using traditional and automatic distillation) and either adsorption or pervaporation. In hydrolysis process, 140g/L of reducing sugar was produced, which then was fermented by using yeast Sacharomycescerevisiae (2.5-20g/L) resulting 50-80g/L ethanol with the concentration was 7-9% (v/v). In order to obtain 90 L ethanol with 90% purity, traditional distillation equipment required 21hours operation, whereas automatic distillation required 12.5hours. Then, adsorption process produced bioethanol 99% with ethanol raw materials at concentrations of 90% and 95% which resulted the breakthrough time of 60 and 120minutes, respectively. Purification process with membrane pervaporation for 2hours using ethanol raw material 95% (v/v) produced ethanol 99% (v/v) with ethanol flux was 20kg/m2.hour.

Design and control of an alternative distillation sequence for bioethanol purification

BACKGROUND Bioethanol is a green fuel considered to be a sustainable alternative to petro-derived gasoline. The transport sector contributes significantly to carbon dioxide emission and consequently has a negative impact on the air quality and is responsible for the increase of the greenhouse effect. The availability of environment-friendly and economical fuels is a worldwide priority. The separation process is a significant technology in the production of fuel grade ethanol in terms of both operating and capital costs. In the present work an alternative distillation sequence for bioethanol separation is presented. The steady state performance and the dynamic beavior are analyzed compared with the classical configuration reported in the literature. RESULTS Ethanol–water azeotropic separation represents a challenge for bioethanol purification. Usually a three column sequence is used to obtain fuel grade bioethanol by extractive distillation. In order to reduce bioethanol purification cost a two column separation sequence is proposed. This configuration shows a 10% saving in capital costs together with higher ethanol recovery and better control properties compared with the classical three column sequence. CONCLUSIONS Based on the steady state and dynamic results obtained, the two-column configuration represents a valid alternative to the classical configuration for the separation of bioethanol. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry

Utilization of Fly Ash as Ceramic Support Mixture for the Synthesis of Zeolite Pervaporation Membrane

s. Ethanol purification is a key problem during fuel grade bioethanol production. Conventional distillation cannot be used any more after the ethanol concentration has reached azeotrophic condition (~95 wt.%). In this case pervaporation (PV) is recognized as one of the promising alternative purification technologies. The performance of pervaporation is significantly influenced by the membrane material used. This paper utilizes fly ash, a solid waste from coal combustion of thermal power plant, to prepare porous support pervaporation membranes. The support was prepared from a mixture of fly ash, kaolin and alumina. The support membrane was then coated by crytallization of hydrophilic zeolite. The results show that the the performance of support material was influenced by the preparation temperature and fly ash content. The addition of fly ash and the increase in alumina concentration would raise the mechanical strength of the membrane but the more the fly ash used the harder the support to be molded. An optimum fly ash content in support layer was found to be ~50 wt.% of the mixture. The higher calcination temperature the better the resulting support layer. Zeolite crystallization on the support layer was influenced by crytallization temperature, zeolite solution concentration, and crystallization time.

Hydrolysis of concentrated suspensions of steam pretreated Arundo donax

Fuel grade bioethanol can be produced from a number of lignocellulosic biomass sources. In the present paper the enzymatic hydrolysis of giant reed (Arundo donax) at high biomass loadings up to 20% (w/v) was investigated. Two pretreatment technologies were used: one step steam explosion (SE) with and without acid catalyst and the novel pilot process from Chemtex consisting in a two steps pretreatment. The results of the biomass composition after different pretreatment conditions along with the corresponding enzymatic hydrolizability at low solids loading, indicated that the best pretreatments were the acid catalyzed steam explosion (ACSE) at 200°C and the Chemtex process in which the SE step was carried out at 206 for 4min. Various process configurations, including biomass and enzymes fed-batch, were investigated to avoid excessive viscosities and increase the cellulose conversion. Novel enzymatic preparations from Novozymes, Cellic™ Ctec1 and Cellic™ Ctec2, were used for the biomass saccharification.Concerning the analysis of the factors that limited the hydrolysis yields at high DM content, some evidences indicated that product inhibition by xylooligomers could have an important role.The highest solids loading investigated in the present paper was 21%. Under these conditions and by using an enzymes loading of 0.28g Ctec2/g glucan, an overall sugars concentration of 91g/L (glucose+xylose) can be obtained after 48h from ACSE at 200°C.

MFI Zeolite Membrane from Rice Husk for Biofuels Production

High silica MFI zeolite membrane was synthesized by hydrothermal method at 313 K on asymetri pore structure alpha alumina substrate, utilizing natural rice husk as the sources of silica. The top layer of substrate was about 0.1 µm. The calcination was conducted at 773 K to remove the organic template. This membrane has a good stability at high temperature and in organic solvent. The membrane structure was identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The permeation of some pure gases was carried out to detect pinhole or cracking by studying mass transfer mechanism in the membrane. The pervaporation performance of as-synthesized membrane showed good results. This process was able to produce fuel grade bioethanol (99.2%) with the separation factor about 14.

Dehydrating performance of commercial LTA zeolite membranes and application to fuel grade bio-ethanol production by hybrid distillation/vapor permeation process

The performance of commercial NaA zeolite membranes (Bussan Nanotech Research Institute Inc., Japan) was investigated for dehydration viability by vapor permeation (VP) to apply them to production of fuel grade ethanol. We carried out mainly two sub-projects: (1) the VP experiments with a large unit to determine the dehydration performance for elemental membranes and (2) the field test to produce fuel grade ethanol from fermented hydrous ethanol (5–10wt.% ethanol content) through hybrid distillation/vapor permeation system in which the membrane modules were installed. The commercial NaA zeolite membranes exhibited sufficiently high dehydrating performance for economically feasible fluxes. It has been also verified that anhydrous ethanol (>99.7wt.%) with an amount of 46kgh−1 can be continuously produced with the commercial NaA zeolite membranes in a pilot plant. These results suggest that the commercial NaA zeolite membrane can be expected to be utilized in motor fuel ethanol production.