REACTIVE DISTILLATION FOR FUSEL OIL REVALUATION: SAMPLE CHARACTERIZATION AND PROCESS SIMULATION

Abstract

Introduction:
Fusel oil currently constitutes a waste product that possesses in its composition a wide range of alcohols that position it as a versatile product for various industrial sectors.
Objective:
To obtain high commercial value products from fusel oil sample characterization and process simulation in Aspen Hysys v10.0.
Materials and Methods:
Three fusel oil samples from a Cuban distillery were characterized by gas chromatography. A statistical analysis of the normal distribution between the compositions of the samples and a hypothesis test were performed using Statgraphics Centurion XVII. A reactive distillation technique was modeled using the Aspen Hysys v10.0 simulator and the results were validated with data reported in the literature.
Results and Discussion:
In the characterizations carried out for the three fusel oil samples, there is the presence of isoamyl alcohol as the major component. It was found that their compositions do not present significant differences among them. With the reactive distillation technology, a mixture of esters is obtained, composed of 65.66 % vol. of isoamyl acetate, 11.05 % vol. of isobutyl acetate and in the distillate 40.16 % vol. of ethyl acetate. 14,040 m3/year of cooling water, 82,280 kg/year of steam and 5,328 kg/year of fuel oil are consumed.
Conclusions:
With fusel reactive distillation technology, more than 45 % of high value-added products are obtained for the bioethanol industry.