Sensitivity analysis of ethanol production process using Aspen Plus

Abstract

In this work, a sustainable process for the production of ethanol from the monosaccharide glucose was simulated. The thermodynamic model used for the process was NRTL-RK (based on activity coefficients) due to the polar nature and non-ideal behavior of the species involved. The process was carried out in three steps. First, glucose in aqueous solution was subjected to a fermentation process using a stoichiometric reactor. The second stage consisted of carbon dioxide degassing using two flash tank systems. In the third stage, a RadFrac distillation column was used to facilitate the separation of ethanol and water. According to the results obtained, the molar flow rate of the distilled product stream was 5.04 kmol/h with a composition of 82.15% mol of ethanol, 15.37% mol of water and 2.47% mol of carbon dioxide, while the bottom stream whose molar flow rate was 143.39 kmol/h had a composition of 99.99% mol of water with traces of ethanol and carbon dioxide. The results obtained demonstrate that ethanol production from glucose is possible.