Expanding Ethanol Dehydration

Ethanol Producer Magazine April 2010
By Felipe Tavares, Jansley Pascoal and Bruno Maia

A number of alternative methods are available for debottlenecking cooling water systems and the molecular sieves that are used for ethanol dehydration.

Ethanol is gaining wide popularity as an alternative fuel as the value of diminishing crude oil reserves increases and research is directed toward the possibilities of employing biomass materials for fuel. Current U.S. policies are motivating ethanol dehydration companies in Central American and Caribbean countries to increase production capacity either by starting new plants or expanding existing ones. Expansion is often preferable as it usually involves a better ratio between throughput expansion and capital costs than new construction. Besides that, a plant upgrade will take less time than building an entirely new unit.

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