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The ethanol-water humidification process in Evgt cycles

Them, Marcus ; Undquist, Torbjom and Torisson, Tord LU (2004) 2004 ASME Turbo Expo 7. p.559-567
Abstract
Ethanol from bio-products has become an important fuel for future power production. However, the present production technology is rather expensive. This paper focuses on how to lower the production cost of ethanol extraction from mash, and to use the ethanol as a primary fuel in gas turbines for heat and power production. Today, ethanol is produced during distillation by supplying energy to extract the ethanol from the mash. Using the evaporation process in the evaporative gas turbine to extract the ethanol from the mash before the distillation step, a lot of energy can be saved. In the evaporation process, the ethanol is extracted directly from the mash using energy from low-level energy sources. The evaporation technology is therefore... (More)
Ethanol from bio-products has become an important fuel for future power production. However, the present production technology is rather expensive. This paper focuses on how to lower the production cost of ethanol extraction from mash, and to use the ethanol as a primary fuel in gas turbines for heat and power production. Today, ethanol is produced during distillation by supplying energy to extract the ethanol from the mash. Using the evaporation process in the evaporative gas turbine to extract the ethanol from the mash before the distillation step, a lot of energy can be saved. In the evaporation process, the ethanol is extracted directly from the mash using energy from low-level energy sources. The evaporation technology is therefore expected to reduce the cost for the ethanol production. Simultaneous heat and mass transfer inside the ethanol humidification tower drives a mixture of ethanol and water into the compressor discharge air. To investigate the evaporation of a binary mixture into air at elevated pressures and temperatures, a test facility was constructed and integrated into the evaporative gas turbine pilot-plant. The concentration of ethanol in the mash is not constant but depends on the sugar content in the feedstock used in the fermentation process. Tests were therefore conducted at different concentrations of ethanol in the ethanol-water mixture. Tests were also performed at different temperature and flow conditions to establish the influence of these parameters on the lower heating value of the produced low calorific gas. It has been shown that this technology extracts about 80% of the ethanol from the mash. It has also been shown that the composition of the resulting gas depends on the temperatures, flow rates and composition of the incoming streams. The tests have shown that the produced gas has a lower heating value between of 1.8 to 3.8 MJ/kg. The produced gas with heating values in the upper range is possible to use as fuel in the gas turbine without any pilot flame. Initial models of the ethanol humidification process have been established and the initial test results have been used for validating developed models. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ethanol-water humidification process, Ethanol extraction, Compressor discharge air, Calorific gas
host publication
Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo 2004
volume
7
pages
559 - 567
publisher
American Society Of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
conference name
2004 ASME Turbo Expo
conference location
Vienna, Austria
conference dates
2004-06-14 - 2004-06-17
external identifiers
  • scopus:10244255163
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8ba2245f-fcb9-4a6e-8c16-cea945365c30 (old id 613512)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:15:42
date last changed
2022-01-29 21:36:24
@inproceedings{8ba2245f-fcb9-4a6e-8c16-cea945365c30,
  abstract     = {{Ethanol from bio-products has become an important fuel for future power production. However, the present production technology is rather expensive. This paper focuses on how to lower the production cost of ethanol extraction from mash, and to use the ethanol as a primary fuel in gas turbines for heat and power production. Today, ethanol is produced during distillation by supplying energy to extract the ethanol from the mash. Using the evaporation process in the evaporative gas turbine to extract the ethanol from the mash before the distillation step, a lot of energy can be saved. In the evaporation process, the ethanol is extracted directly from the mash using energy from low-level energy sources. The evaporation technology is therefore expected to reduce the cost for the ethanol production. Simultaneous heat and mass transfer inside the ethanol humidification tower drives a mixture of ethanol and water into the compressor discharge air. To investigate the evaporation of a binary mixture into air at elevated pressures and temperatures, a test facility was constructed and integrated into the evaporative gas turbine pilot-plant. The concentration of ethanol in the mash is not constant but depends on the sugar content in the feedstock used in the fermentation process. Tests were therefore conducted at different concentrations of ethanol in the ethanol-water mixture. Tests were also performed at different temperature and flow conditions to establish the influence of these parameters on the lower heating value of the produced low calorific gas. It has been shown that this technology extracts about 80% of the ethanol from the mash. It has also been shown that the composition of the resulting gas depends on the temperatures, flow rates and composition of the incoming streams. The tests have shown that the produced gas has a lower heating value between of 1.8 to 3.8 MJ/kg. The produced gas with heating values in the upper range is possible to use as fuel in the gas turbine without any pilot flame. Initial models of the ethanol humidification process have been established and the initial test results have been used for validating developed models.}},
  author       = {{Them, Marcus and Undquist, Torbjom and Torisson, Tord}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo 2004}},
  keywords     = {{Ethanol-water humidification process; Ethanol extraction; Compressor discharge air; Calorific gas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{559--567}},
  publisher    = {{American Society Of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)}},
  title        = {{The ethanol-water humidification process in Evgt cycles}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2004}},
}