Low-temperature recovery of ethanol from a biorefinery's scrubber bottoms

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IGPC Ethanol Inc. continues to be a leader in successfully integrating the best available technologies forenvironmentally-responsible and sustainable growth. IGPC now sees an opportunity to build on that record,and recover the wasted ethanol present in its process effluent. Success would see improved profits andenvironmental performance for the company. However, the recovery technology must be able to capture thedilute ethanol from this effluent at low temperature which is generally 30 degrees Celsius or less, and be able touse a minimal amount of energy to perform the separation.A promising technology to achieve these requirements is Pass-through Distillation. Sheridan College hasexpertise in this technology, making it a logical partner to collaborate with on validating the use of thetechnology for this opportunity. While the technology has demonstrated a capability of meeting thoserequirements, Sheridan College and IGPC have determined that there is technical uncertainty regarding theattainable yields of ethanol when applied specifically to IGPC's effluent. This technical risk must be mitigatedbefore IGPC can decide on the commercial implementation.This project proposes a series of trials using Sheridan College's pass-through distillation pilot unit andengaging Sheridan Chemical and Environmental Engineering Technology faculty and students to determine thepractical yields of ethanol under these real-life ethanol plant conditions. The results will inform an economicassessment by IGPC so that a decision can be made as to whether adopting this technology is the best solution.