Destilação instantânea em regime transiente: Dorna Volante modificada

Abstract

In the intense search for better environmental conditions, it is necessary not only to invest in renewable fuels but also to seek improvements in the production processes of these fuels. With this in mind, in this work the study of the ethanol production process was carried out using a “Flash” whose dimensioning was proposed by Souders-Brown (1934) in a transient regime. The proposed tests were made by changing the initial concentration of ethanol in the mixture, the number of holes in the orifice plate and the initial mass. The tests were carried out with an initial load of 40 kg and 80 kg, with initial mass fractions of 10%, 7% and 4% and 8 or 4 holes in the plate in order to verify which scenario would present a reduction in the volume of vinasse and also a possible savings in steam consumption. All tests were performed in triplicate and the samples taken to determine the mass concentration of ethanol were performed using a refractometer and chromatography. The most promising results were obtained using an initial mass of 40 kg, 10% of mass fraction and 8 holes, where it was possible to observe a reduction in the volume of vinasse of 82% and a concentration of solids of around 22%. Despite this, the initial concentration of ethanol in wine in ethanol production processes is around 7% and, for this case, it was possible to observe a final solids concentration of only 14%. The ethanol recovery for both tests mentioned was 99.9%. The amount of reused water is of paramount importance, given that water is a valuable and indispensable asset to life. As a result, we were able to reduce transport costs, which are also reduced thanks to the amount of solids present, decreasing the volume of liquid applied to the soil. For the tests with 80Kg of initial mass, it was possible to obtain based on the results obtained that the design proposed by Souders-Brown for “flash” drums is not suitable for this case, as it oversizes the steam space. The oversizing of the vapor space can be proven by analyzing the mass fraction of ethanol in the tributary after ending the experiment where a collection was performed 24 hours after the experiment indicated in Experiment E40.10.08, for example, the mass fraction of ethanol in the last collection was 2.5% and 24 hours after the experiment, the fraction was 2.71%, proving the oversizing.