Potential for Contamination in Fuel Ethanol Production with Proposed Specific Guideline Criteria and Experimental on Acidity Removal

Abstract

Ethanol is a promising biofuel that can replace fossil fuel, mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and represent a renewable building block for biochemical production. However, the lack of collective information about quality control of anhydrous ethanol from up-stream to downstream process brings about the first aim of this research is to create understanding about the causes of impurities formation throughout the whole production process (starting from feedstock acquisition) and their effects on subsequent processes (fermentation, ethanol recovery and storage) and on final ethanol properties.

Ethanol can be produced from various feedstocks. First generation ethanol is mainly produced from sugar- and starch-containing feedstocks. For second-generation ethanol, lignocellulosic biomass is used as a feedstock. Typically, ethanol production contains four major steps, including the conversion of feedstock, fermentation, ethanol recovery, and ethanol storage. Each feedstock requires different procedures for its conversion to fermentable sugar. Lignocellulosic biomass requires extra pretreatment compared to sugar and starch feedstocks to disrupt the structure and improve enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency. Many pretreatment methods are available such as physical, chemical, physicochemical, and biological methods. However, the greatest concern regarding the pretreatment process is inhibitor formation, which might retard enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. The main inhibitors are furan derivatives, aromatic compounds, and organic acids. Actions to minimize the effects of inhibitors, detoxification, changing fermentation strategies, and metabolic engineering can subsequently be conducted. In addition to the inhibitors from pretreatment, chemicals used during the pretreatment and fermentation of byproducts may remain in the final product if they are not removed by ethanol distillation and dehydration. Maintaining the quality of ethanol during storage is another concerning issue. Initial impurities of ethanol being stored and its nature, including hygroscopic, high oxygen and carbon dioxide solubility, influence chemical reactions during the storage period and change ethanol’s characteristics (e.g., water content, ethanol content, acidity, pH, and electrical conductivity). During ethanol storage periods, nitrogen blanketing and corrosion inhibitors can be applied to reduce the quality degradation rate, the selection of which depends on several factors, such as cost and storage duration. This comprehensive review part sheds light on the techniques of control used in ethanol fuel production, and also includes specific guidelines to control ethanol quality during production and the storage period in order to preserve ethanol production from first generation to second-generation feedstock. Moreover, the understanding of impurity/inhibitor formation and controlled strategies is crucial. These need to be considered when driving higher ethanol blending mandates in the short term, utilizing ethanol as a renewable building block for chemicals, or adopting ethanol as a hydrogen carrier for the long-term future, as has been recommended.

In the case study of Fakwantip Co. LTD, Thailand, off-spec ethanol can be treated with anion resin exchange to remove excess acidity. The static and dynamic adsorption capacity show maximum values of 91.01 and 87.84 mg acidity/g resin, respectively. Thomas model offer the highest correlation coefficient (R2 between 0.9826 - 0.9915) indicating that the model is appropriate for predicting the breakthrough curve. The obtained important adsorption parameters were further employed for the design calculations of large scale.

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