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Topic Name: A spiral-wound liquid membrane module : More Energy-Efficient Ethanol Production
Category: BioFuels
Research persons: Richard D. Offeman ,George H. Robertson ,Robert L. Fireovid,
Location: WESTERN REGIONAL RESEARCH CENTER,800 BUCHANAN STREET,ALBANY, CA, 94710, United States
Details
Ethanol to fuel cars, trucks and other
vehicles might tomorrow take less energy to produce, thanks to a device invented
by Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists in California.Chemical engineers Richard D. Offeman and George H.
Robertson at the ARS Western
Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., think it may be possible to cut
energy costs by using a series of specially designed permeable plastic sheets,
or membranes, to produce ethanol from fermented broths of corn, or straw and
other kinds of biomass feedstocks
The technology will help to address the
serious concern regarding the energy efficiency of bioethanol production,
according to Robert
L. Fireovid, ARS national program leader for process engineering and
chemistry, Beltsville, Md.
The researchers' invention, called a
spiral-wound liquid membrane module, could potentially replace the widely used
process of distilling ethanol from fermentation broths. The module offers
ethanol producers the important advantage of combining two separation processes,
extraction and membrane permeation, in one piece of equipment.
With further research and development,
the module would require less energy than distillation. Today, energy costs are
ethanol producers' second largest expense; feedstocks are first.
In brief, the fermentation
broth—typically containing about five to 12 percent ethanol—would travel
through a sandwich-like configuration of membranes and mesh sheets, called
spacers, that keep the membranes separate from each other. One membrane has a
solvent in its pores that extracts the ethanol from the broth. A second
membrane, with the help of a vacuum, pulls the ethanol out of the solvent. The
ethanol-and-water vapor that results is then, in other equipment, condensed into
an ethanol-rich liquid.
The scientists have applied for a
patent. They now plan to build and fine-tune a prototype, then turn it over to a
membrane manufacturer for further development before commercialization.
Already, some ethanol producers have
expressed interest in the invention.
The device has other potential uses,
such as cleaning up wastewater or treating natural gas for home use.
About Researchers-
George Robertson
Bioproduct
Chemistry and Engineering Research
Chemical Engineer
grobertson@pw.usda.gov
Phone: (510) 559-5866
Fax: (510) 559-5818
Room 0118
WESTERN REGIONAL RESEARCH CENTER
800 BUCHANAN STREET
ALBANY, CA, 94710
Richard Offeman
Bioproduct
Chemistry and Engineering Research
Chemical Engineer
roffeman@pw.usda.gov
Phone: (510) 559-6458
Fax: (510) 559-5818
Room 0122
WESTERN REGIONAL RESEARCH CENTER
800 BUCHANAN STREET
ALBANY, CA, 94710
Funded-
U.S.
Department of Agriculture
In The Image:
Bioethanol is taken out of an incoming
fermentation broth using this spiral-wound liquid membrane module. The broth
flows across the surface of specially designed permeable plastic membranes that
are wrapped around the module's perforated collection tube. Ethanol in the broth
is separated by the membranes, using a vacuum, then sent to other equipment to
be condensed into liquid. The leftover broth could be processed into byproducts.
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