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• Chilled water (50oF) contacts the exhaust gas and removes ethanol
through a process of condensation and absorption.
• Efforts are made to minimize the amount of water due to the energy loss
associated with separation of water from ethanol.
• The scrubber
Th bb isi commonly
l split
lit iinto
t ttwo stages
t tto minimize
i i i water
t
consumption and to maximize ethanol recovery.
• To be successful solvent for removal of non polar organics, ethanol must offer
larger Henry’s Law constant compared to water.
• Ethanol offers at least an order of magnitude improvement over water for these
compounds.
Comparison of Relative Efficiency Shows
Ethanol Significantly Improves Performance
Removal of hard to
Water Ethanol scrub organic
Acetic Acid 96.0% 99.2% compounds greatly
improved!
Amyl Alcohol 87.6% 99.6%
Methanol 84.6% 91.7%
Acetone 40 5%
40.5% 71 2%
71.2%
Acetaldehyde 9.3% 55.7%
Ethyl Acetate 6.0% 94.7%
Outlet TOC Concentrations can Meet Today’s
Emission Standards without Post Treatment
Outlet TOC
< 8.9 lb/hr
Inlet TOC
2,017 lb/hr
Conclusions
• Replacing water with ethanol as a solvent in a traditional water scrubber
can achieve significantly lower total organic emissions.
• The emission reductions will allow many plants to meet their organic
emission targets without additional controls such as an RTO.
• For new p
plants, a new ethanol scrubber both reduces upfront
p capital
p
cost and improves plant energy efficiency.
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