Why don ethanol producers use multiple effect distillation to remove ethanol from fermentation broth?
Energy costs in processing cellulosic beers (with ethanol concentrations around 3%) must surely be holding the industry back, and MED could help. I am expecting that it is a practical issue of heat exchanger fouling, but is there more to it than that? A: I am afraid I don’t know the answer to your question. I do know that fixed valve trays are use in the Beer Stills because of the fouling. I am not familiar with the heat integration schemes use by the industry. However, Dan Summers (Dan.summers@sulzer.com) and Mark Pilling of Sulzer Chemtech USA (mark.pilling@sulzer.com), Dr. Izak Nieuwoudt of Koch-Glitsch (izak.nieuwouldt@kochglitsch.com), Dr. Michael Schultes of Raschig Jaeger Technologies (mschultes@raschig.de), and Henry Z. Kister of Fluor Enterprises Inc. ( henry.kister@fluor.com) may be able help you.
