Application of Ionic Liquids in Extractive Distillation of Ethanol – Water System

Extractive distillation is one of the most common processes used to separate components of azeotropic mixtures. Its most distinct constrains are the tremendous energy costs required to achieve a fluid phase system. In the given process, solvent interacting with the components of the original mixture...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: E. Graczová, P. Steltenpohl
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. 2015-09-01
Series:Chemical Engineering Transactions
Online Access:https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/4734
_version_ 1818854248688910336
author E. Graczová
P. Steltenpohl
author_facet E. Graczová
P. Steltenpohl
author_sort E. Graczová
collection DOAJ
description Extractive distillation is one of the most common processes used to separate components of azeotropic mixtures. Its most distinct constrains are the tremendous energy costs required to achieve a fluid phase system. In the given process, solvent interacting with the components of the original mixture and changing their relative volatility is used. Extractive distillation with conventional solvents provides products of poor quality and the solvents occur at the top of the column. Therefore, additional separation steps are required to separate the solvent from both the distillate and the bottom products. The use of ionic liquids (ILs) as the extractive solvents provides a cost-effective solution. Due to the negligibly low vapor pressure of ILs, the distillate obtained by extractive distillation does not contain solvent and IL can be separated from the bottom product relatively easily in a secondary regeneration column. Thus, appreciable investment an also operational costs reduction can be achieved by simple substitution of common extractive solvents with ILs. The present study focuses on the separation of the azeotropic system ethanol – water using extractive distillation. As the extractive solvents, two ionic liquids were compared: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methylsulfate and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethylsulfate. The separation was carried out in two distillation columns, extraction and recovery ones. Purity of the final products (ethanol and recovered IL) was prescribed. For the extraction and regeneration columns, various parameters were optimized, such as the reflux ratio, number of theoretical stages, quality of feed, position of the feed stage, solvent consumption, etc. Qualitative comparison of the operational costs for ethanol – water mixture separation using the two extraction solvents is discussed.
first_indexed 2024-12-19T07:49:42Z
format Article
id doaj.art-66786724db394b2488af5244c5eb25ef
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2283-9216
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-19T07:49:42Z
publishDate 2015-09-01
publisher AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.
record_format Article
series Chemical Engineering Transactions
spelling doaj.art-66786724db394b2488af5244c5eb25ef2022-12-21T20:30:13ZengAIDIC Servizi S.r.l.Chemical Engineering Transactions2283-92162015-09-014510.3303/CET1545327Application of Ionic Liquids in Extractive Distillation of Ethanol – Water SystemE. GraczováP. SteltenpohlExtractive distillation is one of the most common processes used to separate components of azeotropic mixtures. Its most distinct constrains are the tremendous energy costs required to achieve a fluid phase system. In the given process, solvent interacting with the components of the original mixture and changing their relative volatility is used. Extractive distillation with conventional solvents provides products of poor quality and the solvents occur at the top of the column. Therefore, additional separation steps are required to separate the solvent from both the distillate and the bottom products. The use of ionic liquids (ILs) as the extractive solvents provides a cost-effective solution. Due to the negligibly low vapor pressure of ILs, the distillate obtained by extractive distillation does not contain solvent and IL can be separated from the bottom product relatively easily in a secondary regeneration column. Thus, appreciable investment an also operational costs reduction can be achieved by simple substitution of common extractive solvents with ILs. The present study focuses on the separation of the azeotropic system ethanol – water using extractive distillation. As the extractive solvents, two ionic liquids were compared: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methylsulfate and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethylsulfate. The separation was carried out in two distillation columns, extraction and recovery ones. Purity of the final products (ethanol and recovered IL) was prescribed. For the extraction and regeneration columns, various parameters were optimized, such as the reflux ratio, number of theoretical stages, quality of feed, position of the feed stage, solvent consumption, etc. Qualitative comparison of the operational costs for ethanol – water mixture separation using the two extraction solvents is discussed.https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/4734
spellingShingle E. Graczová
P. Steltenpohl
Application of Ionic Liquids in Extractive Distillation of Ethanol – Water System
Chemical Engineering Transactions
title Application of Ionic Liquids in Extractive Distillation of Ethanol – Water System
title_full Application of Ionic Liquids in Extractive Distillation of Ethanol – Water System
title_fullStr Application of Ionic Liquids in Extractive Distillation of Ethanol – Water System
title_full_unstemmed Application of Ionic Liquids in Extractive Distillation of Ethanol – Water System
title_short Application of Ionic Liquids in Extractive Distillation of Ethanol – Water System
title_sort application of ionic liquids in extractive distillation of ethanol water system
url https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/4734
work_keys_str_mv AT egraczova applicationofionicliquidsinextractivedistillationofethanolwatersystem
AT psteltenpohl applicationofionicliquidsinextractivedistillationofethanolwatersystem