Heat Transfer Evaluation of Multicomponent Batch Distillation of the Wine of Sugarcane Fermentation

Abstract

Experimental data and simulations in Aspen Plus® for the batch distillation process were obtained from wine of sugar cane fermentation. The experimental data was analyzed in order to verify the effectiveness of the batch distillation process for recovering ethanol, using a packed column. The reflux ratio was maintained equal to two and the temperature of the distillation flask was 180 °C. The distillates and the main components of wine (ethanol, acetaldehyde, acetone, ethyl acetate, n-propanol, n-butanol, 3-methyl- 1-butanol, 2-metil-1-propanol, acetic acid, and glycerine) were quantified using gas chromatography analyses. It was found that the highest ethanol concentration was obtained in one hour of distillation and the accumulate ethanol concentration was above 80 % (w/w) when operated at constant reflux. Therefore, it is possible to obtain high yields and concentrations of ethanol in a short period of time.