Ethanol production from agro-based raw materials normally involves two major steps, fermentation and distillation. These steps are reviewed, mainly in relation to molasses, which is the most common raw material in tropical countries. The specific effect on fermentation efficiency of molasses quality in terms Fermentable Sugars, the ratio of fermentable to non-fermentable solids, Volatile Acids,...

Optimal control problems in batch distillation involve finding a trajectory for the reflux ratio so as to maximize a performance index. Then the controller is asked to follow this trajectory in an open loop fashion. It is important to minimize the effect of uncertainties in thermodynamic models on the optimal control profiles to achieve a better operating performance. The nonlinear parameter es...

This paper proposes the simultaneous integration of environmentally benign solvent selection (chemical synthesis), solvent recycling (process synthesis) and optimal control for the separation of azeotropic systems using batch distillation. The previous work performed by Kim et al. (2004) combines the chemical synthesis and process synthesis under uncertainty. For batch distillation, optimal ope...

-Several alternative strategies have been suggested to increase the productivity of batch distillation. One is the use of inverted columns where the feed is charged to the condenser drum instead of to the reboiler as for regular columns. In the first part of this paper, optimal results in terms of minimum operating time for separations in a regular and an inverted batch column are presented. Th...

A batch reactor may be combined directly with a distillation column by distilling off the light component product in order to increase the reactor temperature or to improve the product yield of an equilibrium reaction. The same amount of the light product should be removed as the amount being formed by the reaction at any time. A linearized model has been developed which describes the process b...

Methyl propionate, also known as methyl propanoate, is a clear colourless liquid with a characteristic odour (fruity smell and taste). In this study, the formation of methyl propionate through the esterification of propionic acid and methanol was investigated in the reactive distillation system using a conventional (CBD), single feed (SF-SBD), and double feed semi-batch distillation (DF-SBD) co...