Design of Pilot Plant Packed Column for the Dehydration of Water from Ethanol-Water Mixtures

A. O. Okewale¹, P. K. Igbokwe², K. A. Babayemi³

¹Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Nigeria.
²Department of Chemical Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
³Department of Chemical Engineering, Anambra State University, Uli, Nigeria.

DOI: 10.4236/aces.2015.52016                

Abstract

This use of biomass-based adsorbent has been explored for the column study of the adsorptive dehydration of water in ethanol-water mixtures. The column study was carried out using enzyme modified corn starch and the breakthrough curve parameters were used to design the packed bed column. The effect of flow rate on the breakthrough curves revealed that adsorption efficiency decreased with increased inflow rate. The empty bed contact time (τ) of the pilot plant packed column was 35.35 min while the breakthrough time is 40.78 min. 66.7% was the fraction of capacity left unused for the pilot plant from the design.

Keywords

Enzyme Modified Cornstarch, Design, Fixed Column, Breakthrough Curve, Dehydration, Ethanol-Water Mixtures

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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