No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Fermented ethanol is gaining wide popularity as a car fuel additive. The pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process is attractive for the dehydration of bioethanol on the industrial scale, since its energy consumption is low and it is capable of producing a very pure product. 3 Å zeolite possesses micro-pores which, due to their small size, adsorb water molecules but not ethanol molecules. In this work, up to 2 kL/day of dehydrated ethanol (99.5% by weight) was successfully produced with 3 Å zeolite by the pressure swing adsorption process. The cycles of the PSA process were operated under the following variables: feed flow rate (27-62 Nm 3 /hr of 93.2% by weight), purge/feed ratio (30-24%), adsorption temperature (130-140 o C) and adsorption pressure (1.2 atm).