How to Incorporate Technology Into Distillation Processes

Distillers employ multiple control and monitoring systems to keep their process under tight scrutiny and manage it effectively. When operating continuously, these systems must simultaneously and continuously regulate beer feed rate (for controlling column volume and temperature) beer discharge flow to control stripping/rectifying sections’ column pressure/temperature as well as reflux-to-product flow to manage distillate quality, alcohol vapor concentration as well as heat application from either reboiler/steam injectors to the evaporator or condenser.

Delivering high-quality products requires every step to be executed efficiently and correctly, especially the distillation process. This is particularly true of distillation.

Distillation equipment suppliers are developing technologies that reduce energy use, water use, and emissions associated with distillation equipment. Examples include new evaporators that enable distillers to run with reduced loads on molecular sieves; columns which decrease recirculation; and microchannel technology that has been tailored for industrial distillation.

Microchannel distillation is an energy-saving technique used to separate close-boiling compounds in a very small space with low pressure, enabling higher temperatures and easier condensate of the vapors produced during distillation. Oil refineries already utilize it to separate light petroleum products from heavier crude, and it holds promise as an efficient means for decreasing energy usage for distillation processes involving petroleum (7.174 exajoules/year; 305 MMTCO2) and chemicals (6.86 exajoules/year; 316 MMTCO2).

Drystill Inc. of Kansas is developing an innovative distillation process that could significantly reduce molecular sieve loads. Led by brothers Dick and Sam Burton, their prototype uses “bubble spray” technology to generate small bubbles of distillate that are forced through an oxygen-free sieve bed. Pilot trials on a small scale have already been successfully conducted by Drystill; now working with potential partners, proof-of-concept trials at larger ethanol plants for demonstration purposes are in progress.