Progress in Filtration and Separation

8. Ethanol Purification and Production of Bio-Ethanol

An interesting case for application of pervaporation is the purification of ethanol. Production of ethanol based on bioconversions typically yields aqueous products with ethanol fraction of 5 wt%, or even below. Lignocellulosic sources are considered the most promising, when all aspects are taken into account, in spite of the low(er) concentration of ethanol produced in the broth. This increases the challenge for further processing and sharpens the demands for cost-effective purification processes. Distillation, vapour permeation, and pervaporation are potential candidates to purify bio-ethanol (Vane, 2005). A classical process scheme is shown in Figure 9 (Haelssig et al., 2012). A centrifuge ...