In the design of the ethanol production plant, the fermenter, flash drum, absorption column, and distillation columns were the only process units considered in great detail. Other process units significant in the overall material balances and design were the starch extraction, starch hydrolysis, and adsorption units.
Material Processing Details The material feedstock comprises of roughly 6250 kg/h of potato waste, which is put through the starch extraction unit in order to isolate the 18% by mass of starch contained within the potato feed. The mass of usable starch after extraction was calculated to be 1125 kg/h. In addition, the mass of water was calculated to be almost 4700 kg/h. Non-extractable starch, as well as proteins, fibers, minerals and vitamins were considered to be separated out from the starch-water solution, as they have no practical use in this bio-ethanol production process.
After extraction, the starch-water slurry will be fed into a starch hydrolysis unit. Although not considered in detail, the hydrolysis unit involves the addition of ***** of α-amylase. This enzyme is used to catalyze the hydrolysis reaction, which will help produce …show more content…
After fermentation, the contents are fed into a holding tank after each batch. The holding tank contents of *** kg/h ethanol, *** kg/h amyl alcohol, *** kg/h water, *** kg/h CO2, *** kg/h glucose, and *** kg/h yeast are then moved on into the filter (vacuum drum preferably), where the solids and 1% of the filtrate are removed. There is a continuous feed thereafter to the flash drum and eventually the distillation columns. Leaving the distillation unit into the adsorption unit is a liquid stream of *** kg/h ethanol and *** kg/h water. About 28 kg/h of water is removed as waste from the adsorbent bed, while a desired outlet stream exiting at 377 kg/h and composed of the desired 99.98% pure ethanol is
Material Processing Details The material feedstock comprises of roughly 6250 kg/h of potato waste, which is put through the starch extraction unit in order to isolate the 18% by mass of starch contained within the potato feed. The mass of usable starch after extraction was calculated to be 1125 kg/h. In addition, the mass of water was calculated to be almost 4700 kg/h. Non-extractable starch, as well as proteins, fibers, minerals and vitamins were considered to be separated out from the starch-water solution, as they have no practical use in this bio-ethanol production process.
After extraction, the starch-water slurry will be fed into a starch hydrolysis unit. Although not considered in detail, the hydrolysis unit involves the addition of ***** of α-amylase. This enzyme is used to catalyze the hydrolysis reaction, which will help produce …show more content…
After fermentation, the contents are fed into a holding tank after each batch. The holding tank contents of *** kg/h ethanol, *** kg/h amyl alcohol, *** kg/h water, *** kg/h CO2, *** kg/h glucose, and *** kg/h yeast are then moved on into the filter (vacuum drum preferably), where the solids and 1% of the filtrate are removed. There is a continuous feed thereafter to the flash drum and eventually the distillation columns. Leaving the distillation unit into the adsorption unit is a liquid stream of *** kg/h ethanol and *** kg/h water. About 28 kg/h of water is removed as waste from the adsorbent bed, while a desired outlet stream exiting at 377 kg/h and composed of the desired 99.98% pure ethanol is