Eneryy Con. & Mgmt Vol. 21, pp.

313 to 318, 1981 Printed in Great Britain

0196-8904/81/040313-06 $02.00/0 Pergamon Press Ltd

A MODEL FOR INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION OF FUEL GRADE ETHANOL FROM SUGAR BEETS
A. A. K O U T I N A S 1, P. Y I A N O U L I S 2 and K. G R A V A L O S 1 tChemical Technology Lab., University of Patras and Physics Lab. II, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

(Received 26 June 1981)

Abstract--In this work we describe a model for industrial production of low cost ethanol from sugar beets. Care is taken to cover the energy needs of the factory in part by using dry pulp as fuel and in part by solar energy, using suitable solar collectors. Also, care is taken for recovery of rejected energy of vinasse, and we propose the use of one distillation column, instead of three column distillation plants which are used for the production of pure ethanol. A method of high fermentation rate, for reduction of cost, is proposed, and the rejected yeast per day from Laval separators, is processed as an animal protein food (8 kg pressed yeast per 1001 spirit). The mass and energy balance is given and a cost analysis of spirit production in current prices. This cost is 25.0 Dr or $0.50 per 1 (15 -~ 50 Dr).

Biomass Ethanol from sugarbeets

Fermentation

Fuel grade ethanol

INTRODUCTION

In Greece, ethanol is produced by distillation from alcoholic liquids with an alcoholic strength 6-9%, which are produced by alcoholic fermentation of sugar aqueous solutions. The aqueous solutions of fermenting sugars are prepared from currants by extraction with hot water, 70-75C, or after rarefaction of sugar beet mollasses. In our country the total per year consumption of ethanol is about 150(0)-18000tn and is produced by the domestic industry. In recent years, with the forecasted near future oil demand and with the continuing rise of oil prices, the research programmes of some countries are including the possibility of using ethanol as fuel in automobiles. Research that was undertaken in B r a z i l [ l ] proved that ethanol can be used today as fuel in automobiles in a mixture with gasoline or diesel fuel of 20 or 50% correspondingly. They conclude that, in the future, ethanol can substitute for gasoline after suitable modification of automobile engines. The growth of alcohol production, apart from reducing the dependence of non-oil producing countries on those that are producers, can also increase agricultural income, and give work to a large number of workers and scientists. In addition, ethanol, as engine fuel, in mixtures with gasoline, increases the octane number of the fuel, and therefore reduces the concentrations [2] of lead, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and smoke in the atmosphere, with a corresponding reduction of air pollution. In this paper, we propose a model for the industrial production of low cost ethanol from sugar beets. Sugar beet has the largest conversion efficiency of solar energy [3]. It has been estimated that the percent conversion efficiency of sugar beet is 4.3% corn-

pared with 2.1% for cotton, 2.3% for potato, 1.7% for wheat and 2.8% for sugar cane. In the proposed model, ethanol is produced after fermentation of extracts from sugar beets. The energy demand of the factory, is covered using the produced dry pulp as combustible material in the steam boiler. The rest of the energy demand is covered by using suitable solar collectors. Covering the energy demands by these sources, we make ethanol production independent of oil and coal. We should also emphasize that ethanol production is a method of solar energy storage. In Fig. 1 we show this important aspect of ethanol fuel. No net CO2 is emitted in the atmosphere and solar energy is utilized in photosynthesis and solar collectors. Therefore, ethanol is a renewable source of energy. In Greece, it is possible to produce about 500,000,0001 of spirit from sugar beets. For this production, an area 950,000,000 m 2, is required, provided that the production of beets is 6000 kg per 1000 m 2, This area is 19~o of the total cultivation area in Thessalia.

PROCESS DESCRIPTION

The proposed model of producing low cost spirit is shown in Fig. 2. In this figure we indicate the flow chart of production processes, as well as the mass and energy balance. The mass and energy balance has been calculated for a spirit production plant according to the proposed model, and contains generally the following: 1. Use of sugar beets as raw material for spirit production. 2. Extraction of sugar beets with hot water after a size reduction. Extraction is performed in such a way 313

314

KOUTINAS, YIANOULIS AND GRAVALOS: PRODUCTION OF SPIRIT FROM SUGAR BEETS

Spirit

+ protein

~O'(

CO 2 *

H20
.el

Fig. 1. Closed path for ethanol production and consumption, using only solar energy.

that the sacharose concentration in the liquid is

11-14%.
3. Drying of produced pulp, up to approx 5% humidity. 4. Use of all dry pulp for covering a considerable amount of the energy needs of the factory. 5. Use of suitable solar collectors for the production of hot water 80-100C, covering the rest of the energy needs. 6. pH adjustment, of the sugar beet extracts, from 6.2 to 4.7. This can be achieved by the addition of sulfuric acid. 7. Cooling the hot extracts, by using a heat exchanger, to temperatures of about 20-27C. 8. Alcoholic fermentation of cooled sugar extracts, containing sufficient amount of yeast, in a high fermentation rate reactor [3]. 9. Continuous cooling in a heat exchanger of the fermentating mass by carrying off some of the reaction heat. 10. Separation of yeast with a centrifugal Laval separator from the fermenting mass and use of the yeast in another fermentation reactor, or in the same reactor, when the process is continuous. Yeast can be used until a large percentage of saccharomycetes are dead or to the point of sufficient contamination. 11. Fractional distillation of the alcoholic mass in a distillation column containing a sufficient number of plates for the production of spirit of 95 . The use, in this model, of one distillation column, instead of a three column distillation plant, which is used for the

production of pure spirit, has been imposed because the produced spirit is not required to be of high purity. 12. Use of the hot water which is produced by the heat exchanger of the distillation column, as hot water in extraction; recovery of the rejected heat of vinasse by a heat exchanger and use of this hot water for the extraction of sugar beets. MASS FLOW In the following, the block diagram (Fig. 2), is described and the mass and energy balance is calculated for a production of 100,0001 of alcohol/day. For the production of 100,0001 of spirit per day, 1200tn of sugar beets are required, assuming that sugar beets contain 15% saccharose, that 14% from this is extract, and that the fermentation yield is 601 ethanol per 100 kg saccharose. The sugar beets, after washing and size reduction (1) are taken to the extractor (2) where there is a water supply of 744 tn per day.
Extraction

The extraction process includes the following. (a) Preparation of beets for the extraction of saccharose. The beets are collected from the fields in piles outside the factory and stored. Consequently they are flushed with water, and are transported into the factory. The beets are introduced into the washing plant, which consists of an open trough in which a shaft is revolving with beaters attached. Rapid move-

KOUTINAS, YIANOULIS ANDGRAVALOS: PRODUCTION OF SPIRIT FROM SUGAR BEETS

20C

315

744 t n / 2 4 h

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Yeast

11360 / 2 4 h with7.S% Ethanol or 1479 tin / 24 h

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Fig. 2. Block diagram for the industrial production of ethanol from sugar beets. ment dislodges the sticky earth which often adheres very strongly to the roots. Stones, sand and beet tops are removed by the washing machine in preparation for the subsequent shredding of the sugar beet. The cleaned beets are then carried to the slicing machine. There they are sliced to pieces of about 4 mm thickness and 3-4 cm length, so as to permit the sugar to pass easily from the cells into the water during the subsequent diffusion. (b) Continuous extraction (Fig. 3). We can use the extractor Buckau-Wolf A.G. from which we take crude juice containing 11-14% sugar. From this solution, after alcoholic fermentation, we obtain alcoholic liquid with alcoholic strength of 6.5 8.4%. The composition of the crude juice is given in Table 1. The crude juice contains also the following. 1. Carbohydrates. Apart from saccharose, in the crude juice there are other carbohydrates, as invert sugar, rafinoze, and other tricarbohydrates. 2. Amino acids. The composition of crude juice in amino acids depends on the kind of beet, the conditions of growth of the beet, on the quality of soil, and on the time of harvesting. The most important of these are: glutamine, glutaminic acid, pirolidone carbonic acid, asparaginic acid, leucine, isoleucine, alanine. 3. Organic acids. Mainly oxalic acid and lactic acid. 4. Inorganic acids. Mainly phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and nitric acid. After extraction, pressed pulp which contains 70% humidity is supplied to the dryer (3), and dry mass is taken at a rate of 60 tn/day, containing 5% humidity. Dry pulp is used as a combustible material in the boiler (4), in order to cover a large amount of the thermal needs of the factory (Fig. 2).
Fermentation

The sugar beet extracts are produced at a rate of 1560 tn per day with saccharose weight concentration 10.6% or 1360m 3 per day with saccharose volume

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KOUTINAS, YIANOULIS AND GRAVALOS:

PRODUCTION OF SPIRIT FROM SUGAR BEETS

o

~
dc) ~ C] ~i) b

f g

7-- I

i I I

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e
-,6----- J

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Fig. 3. Continuous extraction of beet slices. A. Scalding trough; B. Tower part; (a) slicing machine, (b) balance, (c) pumps, (d) Fresh slices, (e) tank for crude sap, (f~ fresh water, (g) pressurized water. (ht presses for extracted slices.

concentration 12.2%. These are supplied to container 5 where the pH is modified from 6.2 to 4.7 using sulfuric acid. Before acidification, the extract temperature is 65C and the pH is 6.2. Consequently, the extracts are cooled in the heat exchanger 6, at temperatures 20~27C and are supplied to the first fermentation reactor. Fermentation must be carried out at pH 4.7 and temperature of about 27 32C. We should point out here that it is advantageous to use the fermentation method which is described in [4]. Using this fermentation method, we attain a very high fermentation rate and we can produce 200,0001 of alcoholic liquids of alcoholic strength 7.3 with one reactor, when the concentration of yeast is 2%, in 15 h time. For a production of 100,0001 of ethanol per day, seven reactors are required, of the type we have described.

Yeast production
After the end of alcoholic fermentation, if the process is not continuous, the fermenting alcoholic mass is separated from yeast, in a centrifugal Laval separator. Yeast can be used in another fermentation reactor. We can use yeast until a large number of cells is Table 1. Composition of crude juice from Greek* sugar beets Brix (refractively) Pol (saccharose) Acidity pH Ash (conductivity) Invert sugar Total Nitrogen Pectins Proteins Amino acids 14.9% 13.5% 0.022 0.040% CaO 6.2% 3.5 4.0% On Brix 0.4-0.8?/o On Brix 0.13% On Brix 0.37~o On Brix 0.30% On Brix 0.64~o On Brix

dead, or until sufficient contamination. Long industrial experience in fermentations has shown that we must reject about 4 kg pressed yeast per 1001 of spirit. Likewise, measurements on an industrial scale and for a large number of runs has shown that the rejected yeast, from the final yeast rejection, was also about 4 kg pressed yeast per 100 1 spirit. It is, therefore, calculated that for 100,0001 total spirit production, per day, the available pressed yeast is about 8000 kg. This yeast can be processed to an animal protein food. If total spirit production in our country is raised to 500,000,0001 per year, pressed yeast per day production is estimated to about 110,000 kg. This means that a large number of animals can be fed by a high protein concentration food. At the same time we have a reduction of the cost of produced spirit. This reduction is estimated to be 0.8 Dr. per 1. After the Laval separator, the alcoholic liquids are collected in a tank (10) at a rate of 1360m3/day or 1479 tn/day. Then the alcoholic mass is supplied to the distillation column (11). From this column, after cooling of the alcoholic steam in the heat exchanger (12), we receive low purity spirit of 95 in the tank (13), at a production rate of 100,000 l/day (Fig. 2).

E X P E R I M E N T A L R E S U L T S F R O M AN I N D U S T R I A L PROCESS In order to determine the amount of yeast which can be produced during the fermentation of the sugar beet extracts, without any loss in efficiency of ethanol production, we give the following experimental results. These experiments were carried out in the industrial installations of the Greek Company HBH, Wines and Spirits, Neon Faliron, Piraeus. The experiments were conducted on an industrial scale and we have used extracts from mollasses produced in the area of Thessalia.

* These results were derived from a large number of measurements which took place at the Sugar Factory in Thessalia, Greece.

KOUTINAS, YIANOULIS AND GRAVALOS:

PRODUCTION OF SPIRIT FROM SUGAR BEETS

317

Table 2. Production of yeast from fermentation of sugar beet mollasses, for production of 50001 of ethanol per fermentation batch Number* of batches using the same yeast 10 2 Productiont of yeast (kg) 200 200 Time required per batch (hr) 35 40 35-40 Yield:~ in 1 of ethanol/ 100 kg sugar 58 57

Pasteurization of mollasses Yes No

Yeast (kg) 1300 1000

* These results are derived from a large number of fermentation batches. t Pressed yeast: we should also add the amount of yeast which is produced from the final rejection of yeast which is estimated at 4 kg/1001 of ethanol. ~.The yields have been calculated after the distillation.

Fermentation of mollasses from sugar beets

From alcoholic liquids, which are derived from the fermentation of currant extracts, we take 600-800 kg of pressed yeast. The separation is performed in a Laval separator in which we separate the yeast from the alcoholic liquids. The yeast is fed into a fermentator in which we had previously placed 40001 of dissolved mollasses from sugar beets to 9.5-10 Be. After the end of this operation we start feeding the fermentator with sirups of rarefied mollasses which can be pasteurized or not. The sirups have a density of 9.5 10 Be and a pH of 4.7 by the addition of H2SO4. We also add 254g of (NH4)2HPO4 in every 10001 of sirup. The sirups are fed into the fermentor with such a rate of flow that the sugar which is contained in them is converted to ethanol. The temperature of the fermenting sirups is kept between 30-32C by cooling at a suitable rate. After the end of the fermentation process the fermented liquid is passed through a Laval separator, and the yeast is separated from the alcoholic liquids in order to be reused.

spirit by this model, 0.4 kg of oil are required. In addition, if spirit is produced from mollasses, the energy needs are raised to about 1 kg of oil per I of produced sPirit, and it is evident that in this way the spirit production is not economical. Therefore, we propose in this model to cover the energy needs of the factory by using dry pulp as combustible material; this covers the larger part of the thermal energy needs. The rest of the thermal energy needs are covered using suitable solar collectors. By using the solar collectors, water is heated at 80-100C. The use of solar energy and dry pulp as combustible material, results in a serious reduction of the cost of produced spirit.

Solar collectors
The total energy that we must cover from solar collectors is: E s = 100 x 1 0 6 kcal/day. Analytically, we require Esl = 37.5 1 0 6 kcal/day in the form of hot water of 80C, and E~2 = 62.5 x 106 kcal/day in the form of hot water of 100C. The initial temperature is assumed to be 20C. For this purpose, we can use a conventional collector or a special collector which was developed at the University of Patras [5]. We may also use a modification of this collector. This collector consists of liquid layers and the water is flowing in such a way, that its temperature is raised progressively as it flows in them. It has relatively high efficiencies for high temperatures. For example: for a final temperature 80C nl = 0.76 for a final temperature 100C n 2 = 0.67. The collection efficiencies are calculated on the total radiation which falls on the area (aperture) of the collector. In Greece we have approximately 3000h of sunlight per year, which gives an average of 8.2 h per day. The factory working period will be from JuneNovember. This is the period during which sugar beets are available. The average sunlight hours per day during this period are estimated to be about 11 h/day. However, we must subtract approximately 3 h/day for the time periods during which the altitude of the sun is small, and therefore the collection is insufficient, and for the time required to warm up the system each morning.

Results
The results are given in Table 2. We should also add that for the second case (no pasteurized mollasses) we consumed an additional 0.1 kg of oil per 1 of ethanol. The mollasses which have been used came from the area of Thessalia. From Table 1 it is seen that the sugar beet extracts contain 11 14~o sugar. This concentration is suitable for alcoholic fermentation. Therefore the BuckauWolf extractor, which is used for sugar production, can be used without change for ethanol production. In this extractor, the extraction temperature is 7(L75C and therefore, we can produce 8kg of pressed yeast per 1001 of ethanol from the pasteurized sirups (Table 2). ENERGY BALANCE In this model, hot vinasse of 95C is cooled in the heat exchanger (14), in order to recover the thermal energy. In the following the energy balance is described. The energy needs of the factory are not covered by using oil or coal, as it happens now. This must be done because, for the production of 11 of

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KOUTINAS, YIANOULIS AND GRAVALOS:

PRODUCTION OF SPIRIT FROM SUGAR BEETS amount of thermal energy of about 168 x 106 kcal/ day, taking into account a loss of thermal energy of about 30%. It has been assumed that the heat of combustion [6] of dry pulp is 4000 kcal/kg and that the rate of dry pulp production is 60 tn/day. It is important that in our model the energy needs, in the form of steam and hot water, are covered by the produced pulp and by solar energy. The energy required for mass transfer in the factory is estimated to be 130kcal/l of ethanol, while the transportation of the sugar beets from the fields to the factory requires about 250 kcal/1 of ethanol. Therefore the total energy required for mass transfer is about 7.6% of the total thermal energy which is obtained from the produced ethanol combustion.
COST

It follows that, for our calculations, we can use an average value of 8 h of useful sunlight per day. If we assume an average value of solar radiation of 800 W/m 2 we have that the total useful solar energy falling on 1 m 2 of the collector is Io = 5.5 103 kcal/m 2 day. Taking into account the collection efficiency for the solar collector for the temperatures of 80 and 100C we can find the area which must be occupied by solar collectors. We have: $1 = Es. = 8971m2 nllo Es2 _ 16,961m 2. n2Io

$2 -

ANALYSIS

And the total collector area which is required is S,otal = $1 + $2 = 25,932 m 2.

A cost analysis for ethanol production according to this model, indicates that the production cost is about 25.0 Dr ($0.50)/1 of ethanol. The cost analysis is: Cost of raw material (sugar beets) Labor cost Cost of chemicals, electrical energy and maintenance 23.1 Dr 1.5 Dr 1.2 Dr 25.8 Dr Benefit from yeast production Total cost/1 of ethanol
- 0.8 D r

Various energy requirements

The energy consumption for the extraction of sugar beets is calculated to be 101 x 106 kcal. From this amount, we can cover the 37.5 x 106 kcal per day by the solar collectors. This energy is supplied by the collectors in the form of hot water of approximately 80C. The rest, 63.5 x 106kcal per day that is required for extraction is covered by using hot water from the vinasse heat exchanger (14) and the liquification heat exchanger (12). Energy is also consumed for the drying of pulp. This energy is estimated to be 72 x 1 0 6 kcal per day and can be covered by the solar collectors and by the exhaust gases from the pulp combustion. The greater energy amount which is consumed in the factory, is that required at the distillation column. We need 319 tn of steam of 100C which is equivalent to 191 x 1 0 6 kcal/day. This thermal energy can be covered in part using the solar collectors and the rest using pulp as combustible material for steam production in the boiler. Therefore we take 25.5 x 10 6 kcal/ day from the solar collectors by feeding the boiler with hot water of 100C. Pulp burning gives a useful

25.0 Dr

It is estimated that the cost of capital investment will be about 1 Dr/l of ethanol, assuming that the lifetime of the factory will be 30 years.
REFERENCES

A. L. Hammond, Science 195, 564 (1977). D. O'Sullivan, Chem. Engn9 News April 23, 11 (1979). D. O. Hall, Solar Energy 22, 307 (1979). J. Stegemann and K. Misselhorn, Ger. Often 2151574, 10 May (1973). [5] Y. Caouris, R. Rigopoulos, J. Tripanagnostopoulos and P. Yianoulis, Solar Energy 21, 157 (1978). [6] J. Brandrup and E. Immergut, Polymer Handbook, p. vi-8, Wiley, New York (1966). [1] [2] [3] [4]