SEPARATION OF ACETONE-BUTANOL-ETHANOL MIXTURE BY A HYBRID PROCESS

Biobutanol is considered an alternative biofuel which can be obtained through acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation process with low concentration (<3%wt.). The aim of this work is to design an energy-efficient hybrid separation system by combining distillation with liquid-liquid extraction. In this way, the most plentiful component (water) can be removed with minimum costs. Two hybrid separation sequences are designed (one uses mesitylene and the other 2-ethyl-1-hexanol as separation agent), optimized and economically evaluated. The total annual cost and the energy requirements are reduced with 25% and 34% respectively by using dividing wall column and heat integration.