Hybrid Membrane Distillation Process for Enhanced Integrated Ethanol Production

78204SThe conversion of corn and other biomass to fuel grade ethanol not only would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources but also would be a major industrial application for agricultural products. However, the process of drying the ethanol from a 95% ethanol-5% water mixture (the azeotrope) to fuel grade ethanol consumes significant amounts of energy, incurring costs that continue to increase as cost of natural gas increases. This project will develop technology for introducing a hybrid membrane distillation process that will significantly reduce both the energy and capital requirements for drying. Preliminary laboratory data and economic evaluation suggest that the process will provide significant improvements over commercial technology that is now in place. Phase I will fabricate devices and demonstrate the membrane process. Using this basic data, key economic optimization data will be developed to demonstrate that the hybrid membrane distillation process dramatically reduces energy and overall costs for drying ethanol. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The intial target market for this technology is the growing 13 billion gallon/year ethanol business. The technology also should be applicable to many other energy intensive separation processes.