The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 23, 2011
Filed:
Jul. 13, 2007
Fu-ming Lee, Katy, TX (US);
Kuang-yeu Wu, Plano, TX (US);
Lindsey Vuong, Allen, TX (US);
Fong-cheng Su, Chiayi, TW;
Tzong-bin Lin, Chiayi, TW;
Jyh-haur Hwang, Dali, TW;
Hung-chung Shen, Chiayi, TW;
Po-sung Cheng, Kaohsiung, TW;
Tai-ping Chang, Cihtong Township, TW;
Fu-Ming Lee, Katy, TX (US);
Kuang-Yeu Wu, Plano, TX (US);
Lindsey Vuong, Allen, TX (US);
Fong-Cheng Su, Chiayi, TW;
Tzong-Bin Lin, Chiayi, TW;
Jyh-Haur Hwang, Dali, TW;
Hung-Chung Shen, Chiayi, TW;
Po-Sung Cheng, Kaohsiung, TW;
Tai-Ping Chang, Cihtong Township, TW;
AMT International Inc., Plano, TX (US);
CPC Corporation, Taiwan, Taipei, TW;
Abstract
An energy-efficient extractive distillation process for producing anhydrous ethanol from aqueous/ethanol feeds containing any range of ethanol employs an extractive distillation column (EDC) that operates under no or greatly reduced liquid reflux conditions. The EDC can be incorporated into an integrated process for producing anhydrous ethanol used for gasoline blending from fermentation broth. By using a high-boiling extractive distillation solvent, no solvent is entrained by the vapor phase to the EDC overhead stream, even under no liquid reflux conditions. The energy requirement and severity of the EDC can be further improved by limiting ethanol recovery in the EDC. In this partial ethanol recovery design, ethanol which remains in the aqueous stream from the EDC is recovered in a post-distillation column or the aqueous stream is recycled to a front-end pre-distillation column where the ethanol is readily recovered since the VLE curve for ethanol/water is extremely favorable for distillation.