Abstract:
Hybrid distillation-membrane setups have caught much attention in recent years due to their less energy usage compare to conventional separation techniques such as extractive distillation for ethanol purification. Membrane separation processes operate without heating, therefore use less energy. Pervaporation and vapor permeation are the processing methods for the separation of liquid or vapor mixtures through a membrane. In this study, four different configurations of hybrid distillation-membrane setups are proposed. Both pervaporation and vapor permeation processes were modeled and simulated with the aid of solution diffusion model. The design of hybrid process has been performed by coupling the membrane model with a simulator of distillation column. In addition to this, the performance of ceramic, polymeric and composite membranes has also been investigated by evaluating the recovery and membrane area required for ethanol purification in a hybrid setup. The whole process was realized in Aspen plus. It was observed that distillation-membrane setups have great potential for ethanol purification since these setups exhibited relatively lower operating energy compared to art distillation. Furthermore, it was also found that the hybrid processes configured with a membrane exhibiting vapor permeation are less energy intensive than that of containing a pervaporation membrane.
