Parameteric study to enhence performance of distillation process for bioethanol production by surface response methodology

Abstract

Distillation is the most used separation operation unit in chemical industries; the high consumption of energy is the major disadvantage of this process that is unable to reach a high level of purity of bioethanol. The aim of this work is to optimize the operating energy and cost for distillation column by controlling the operating conditions. A sensitivity studies were performed by response surface methodology (RSM) according to the principles of central composite design (CCD) to find an accurate model of a distillation column that can be used to optimize the working conditions such as the reflux ratio, feeding tray position and column pressure. Two obtained predictive models are developed and used to control and optimize the working conditions of a distillation column. A reduction of 50.14% was obtained for the operating energy and cost of distillation column.