Ethyl Alcohol

A	Bio ethyl alcohol
B	Mash
C	Laitance
D	Wetchwater
E	Cyntohexan
F	Steam
G	Condensate
W	Heat exchanger
HK	Heating element

 

Energy flow:

• The absoluting column A is operated with about 14 bar and as the only one provided with steam of the boiler from the heating element HK3.
• The vapours at the head of the column are that hot at this pressure that they serve to evaporate the lutter water in the sump of the rectification column R, which is working at about 4 bar, by means of the heating element HK2.
• The temperature of the exhaust vapours R is high enough to evaporate the laitance in the sump of the firing column B, which has normal pressure, over the heat element HK1. The alcoholic vapours at the head of this column are condensed in the existing heat exchanger WT 1 and thereby, the pouring cold mash is pre-warmed.
• The two energetically erected pressure and high-pressure columns are rated in a way that they need exactly that energy the firing column B needs. Thus, the complete plant consumes nearly the same energy as without absolutizing (apart from the losses of irradiation!).

Stock flow:

• In the heat exchanger WT2 the mash in counter flow to the pouring laitance is brought to boiling temperature and fed into the firing column B. Here, the alcohol is deprived from the mash portion in a classical way and then enriched in the reinforcing element up to about 87 % vol. The head product taken from the runback of the dephlegmator is pre-warmed in counter flow to the sump extraction of the R-column by the heat exchanger WT3 and is lead to it.
• Together with the accrued watery alcohol dilution from absolutizing the alcohol is further dehydrated up to 96 %vol. The lutter water of the sump of the R-column is processed in the B-column for thermal use. The head product is taken off the runback, and in counter flow to the ready-made bio ethyl alcohol from the A-column it is fed into it pre-warmed.
• Together with the cyclohexan lead in the alcohol-water-mixture constitutes a ternary azeotrop. This ternary mixture has the characteristic to boil easier than the pure alcohol and thus concentrates itself in the head of the column. The slower boiling pure alcohol accrues in this case in the sump.
• The head product is taken from the condensed runback and cooled with the cyclohexan to be fed into the WT 5. Before it enters the decanter for the liquid phase separation it warms the watery sub-phase of the rest container in the WT 5 for its own cooling (the separation of the phases is more effective at low temperatures). The separation effect in the decanter is increased more if soft water is added additionally. The sub-phase has to be warmed still further on before the return to the R-column takes place. This happens in WT 7 in counter flow to the evaporating finished product which is thus cooled to a temperature suitable for storage.