Author : David Alexander Ramirez Ramirez
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 117 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (827 download)
Book Synopsis Improvement of Ethanol Production on Dry-mill Process Using Hydrodynamic Cavitation Pretreatment by : David Alexander Ramirez Ramirez
Download or read book Improvement of Ethanol Production on Dry-mill Process Using Hydrodynamic Cavitation Pretreatment written by David Alexander Ramirez Ramirez and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: In the US, the main source for ethanol production is corn grain fermented to ethanol by the dry-mill (DG) process. Corn has high starch content and is the largest crop produced in the US making it the most suitable source for ethanol production. However, during this process, as much as 6% of the starch in the corn grain is not converted and remains in the dry distiller's grains with solubles (DDGS). In addition, cellulose present in the grain, another potential supply of glucose for fermentation to ethanol, is also not converted during this process. Hydrodynamic cavitation is a phenomenon that releases energy due to the collapse of cavities formed inside a liquid flow. In this study, this phenomenon is used as a pretreatment along with cellulase addition to improve the yield of ethanol by releasing and hydrolyzing the unconverted carbohydrate fractions. A hydrodynamic cavitation unit was installed at a 100-gallon pilot plant and at a 100 million gallon dry mill ethanol plant. During pilot scale experiments four and three different cavitation pressures in a range from 50psi to 350psi were evaluated on starch release after liquefaction and on ethanol production after simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). The effects of the cavitation and a jet cooker treatment on ethanol production after SSF were also compared. At commercial scale cavitation and cellulase addition during liquefaction and SSF was tested to determine its impact on glucose and ethanol production. Three different experiments were conducted and the effects of hydrodynamic cavitation were assessed on liquefaction parameters. The effects of hydrodynamic cavitation and cellulase addition on SSF parameters and ethanol production were determined. During pilot scale three effect-levels was identified according to the results on ethanol production: 1) Minimum, pressures showing no significant difference as compared to control pressure; 2) Optimum, pressures showing significant differences as compared to the control but not with the maximum; 3) Maximum, pressure with the best ethanol production within the pressure range tested in this study. Results showed an increase of 11.6% in total glucose released after liquefaction and 2.7% in the ethanol production after SSF with the maximum tested level of cavitation, while traditional jet cooking systems reduced ethanol production by 0.4% as compared to controls. Commercial scale tests at the optimum caviation pressure demonstrated that cavitation affected the liquefaction parameters and led to significant increases on ethanol production and solids conversion after SSF. Ethanol production increased by 2.2% in cavitated samples as compared to uncavitated samples. Cellulase also affected uncavitated and cavitated samples, increase in ethanol production was around 2.5% for uncavitated and 4.3% for cavitated. The electrical energy used for cavitation during commercial scale ethanol production was 1/16th of that contained in the additional ethanol produced and the value of the ethanol created was more than thirty times the cost of the electricity used to produce it. In summary, hydrodynamic cavitation can be used to increase ethanol production at pilot and commercial scales improving the productivity, profitability and net energy value (NEV) of DG ethanol plants.