Fermentation of sugar to produce ethanol also produces volatile byproducts. This study was aimed at purifying corn-based ethanol for industrial and pharmaceutical use. The research was on treatment for 10 impurities removal after distillation. The ethanol headspace was sampled with solid-phase microextraction and analyzed with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. A 40 mg/L ozone treatment resulted in >56% and >36% removal of styrene and 2-pentylfuran, respectively, without significant generation of byproducts. A 60 g/L activated carbon (AC) treatment with 270 min adsorption time resulted in 84%, >72%, and >78% removal of ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, and ethyl decanoate respectively. CO2-based stripping, at 675 LStripping gas/LSample, removed 65%, >82%, and >83% acetaldehyde, ethyl vinyl ether, and 1,1-diethoxyethane respectively. A combination of three approaches effectively removes these 8 impurities.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/somchai_rice/11/
This article is published as Onuki, Shinnosuke, Jacek A. Koziel, William S. Jenks, Lingshuang Cai, Somchai Rice, and J. Hans van Leeuwen. "Ethanol purification with ozonation, activated carbon adsorption, and gas stripping." Separation and Purification Technology 151 (2015): 165-171. DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2015.07.026. Posted with permission.