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New Ethanol Scrubber Reduces

Plant Capital & Operating Cost


2009 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo
Track 2: Energy & Environment
Emissions Abatement Optimization
p

Andrew Bartocci - Envitech, Inc., Booth 1241


Ph: 619
619-223-9925
223 9925, ext.
ext 203; abartocci@envitechinc.com
abartocci@envitechinc com
New Ethanol Scrubber Reduces
Plant Capital & Operating Cost
• Fermentation processes release large amounts of carbon dioxide with
p in the exhaust g
ethanol vapor gas.
• Simple alcohols, acetates, aldehydes, and organic acids are also present
in low concentrations.
• Ethanol must be recovered to maximize product yield.
• Organic compounds must be removed to meet environmental standards.
• Ethanoll plants
Eth l t typically
t i ll use a water
t scrubber
bb tot recover ethanol
th l and
d an
regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) to destroy organic compounds.
• A new patent-pending ethanol scrubber eliminates the need for an RTO,
sa ing energ
saving energy cons
consumption
mption & capital cost
cost.
Water Scrubbers Achieve High Ethanol
Recovery but Require Post Treatment
• Ethanol producers recover vapor phase ethanol using water scrubbers.

• 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.

• High ethanol recovery is achieved


achieved, but most plants require post treatment
to destroy remaining organic compounds.
A Two Stage Scrubber
Minimizes Water Consumption
Fresh Chilled
water is used in
the 2nd stage for
ultra-high ethanol
recovery

Chilled water is re-


circulated in the
1st stage to
supersaturate water
with ethanol
The Limitation of Water as a Solvent is
Related to the Henry
Henry’s
s Law Constants
• At 77oF, the Henry’s Law constant of ethanol in water is 120 mol/kg-bar
and is relatively miscible in water
water.
• For comparison, CO2 has a Henry’s Law constant of 0.035 mol/kg-bar,
3,500 times less miscible than ethanol.
• Organic acids and strongly polarized molecules such as acetic acid and
methanol are efficiently removed due to their strong interaction with water.
• Non polar compounds such as ethyl acetate
Non-polar acetate, acetone
acetone, acetaldehyde
acetaldehyde, and
acrolein, are not efficiently removed.
• Compounds other than ethanol account for ~ 1% of the total organics in
the exhaust gas
gas.
• Almost half of the organics are of the non-polar (hard to remove) variety.
Emission Limits are not Achieved for a
Typical
yp Plant using
g Water as a Solvent
Plant Capacity, MGPY: 110
Flow Rate, dscfm: 12,400
Flow Rate, scfm: 12,500 Removal is
Flow Rate, acfm: 12,800
Temp, p F: 90 insufficient to
Pressure, in. W.C.: 9 meet emission
Total TOC's, Lb/hr: 2,017 Expected Limits
Allowable Emissions: 8.9 11.5
Required Removal Efficiency: 99.6% 99.4%

Conc. Inlet Removal Outlet


Compound Formula Ppm Lb/Hr Efficiency Lb/hr
Water H2O 1,100 400 - -
Carbon Dioxide CO2 970,000 8,300 - -
Ethanol C2H6O 2,200 2,000 99.8% 4.0
Difficult to
Methanol CH4O 16.0 1.0 99.7% 0.0 Remove with
Formic
i acid
id C 2 O2
CH 11
1.1 01
0.1 99 0%
99.0% 00
0.0 Water Solvent
Lactic acid C3H6O2 6.9 1.0 99.0% 0.0
Acetid acid C2H4O2 21.0 2.5 99.9% 0.0
Amyl alcohol   C5H12O 29.0 5.0 90.0% 0.5
Formaldehyde   CH2O 3.4 0.2 99.9% 0.0
Acetone   C3H6O 04
0.4 01
0.1 35 9%
35.9% 00
0.0
Acrolein   C3H4O 0.2 0.0 0.0% 0.0
Acetaldehyde   C2H4O 35.0 3.0 1.0% 3.0
Ethyl acetate   C4H8O2 23.0 4.0 1.0% 4.0
Total TOC's 2,017 99.4% 11.5
Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium Shows that
Ethanol is a Much Better Solvent than Water

Ethyl Acetate Smaller slope indicates


compound wants to be
in the liquid phase.
Higher Henry’s Law Constant in Ethanol
Shows the Enormous Potential as a Solvent
Water Ethanol
Henry’s Law Constant Henry’s Law Constant
Henry s Law Constants in
Henry’s
mol/kg-bar mol/kg-bar Ethanol are Generated
Ethanol 120 from Vapor-Liquid
Methanol 140 641 Equilibrium Curves
Ethyl Acetate 8.9 996
Acetone 23 140
Acetaldehyde 9.8 72
Acetic Acid 820
Pentanol 81

• 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

• Two-stage arrangement similar to a


conventional water solvent scrubber.

• Lower stage uses ethanol as solvent to


capture difficult to remove TOC’s.

• Upper stage uses water as a solvent to


recover residual ethanol vapors.

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.

• Ethanoll iis a llow tto no costt solvent,


Eth l t requiring
i i littl
little if any post-treatement
tt t t
to refine the product further processing.

• Retrofitting costs for existing ethanol recovery scrubbers are minimal


minimal,
requiring only new piping to transfer ethanol to the scrubber.

• For new p
plants, a new ethanol scrubber both reduces upfront
p capital
p
cost and improves plant energy efficiency.
THANK YOU!

Andrew Bartocci – National Sales Manager


g
Envitech, Inc. - San Diego, CA, Booth 1241
Ph: 619-223-9925, ext. 203; abartocci@envitechinc.com

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