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US 2013/0172630 A1Published application
Pressure driven distillation for ethanol production and recovery from hydrogenation process
AssigneeCelanese International Corporation
InventorsR. Jay Warner, David Lee, Adam Orosco
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Recovery of alcohols, in particular ethanol, from a crude ethanol product obtained from the hydrogenation of acetic acid using pressure driven distillation to separate the crude ethanol product. The crude ethanol product may be fed to a distillations column in which a substantial portion of the water is removed with the acetic acid in the residue. A second column is at higher pressure than a first column.
Claims20
A process for producing ethanol, comprising the steps of:
- hydrogenating acetic acid from an acetic acid feed stream in a reactor to form a crude ethanol product comprising ethanol, ethyl acetate, acetic acid, and water;
- separating at least a portion of the crude ethanol product in a first column at a first pressure into a first distillate comprising ethanol, ethyl acetate, and low concentration of water, and a first residue comprising acetic acid and water, and
- separating at least a portion of the first distillate in a second column at a second pressure to yield an ethanol product stream and an ethyl acetate stream;
- wherein the second pressure is higher than the first pressure.
1 more element
A process for producing ethanol, comprising the steps of:
- hydrogenating acetic acid from an acetic acid feed stream in a reactor to form a crude ethanol product comprising ethanol, ethyl acetate, and water;
- separating at least a portion of the crude ethanol product in a first column at a first pressure into a first distillate comprising ethanol, ethyl acetate, and low concentration of water, and a first residue comprising water, and
- separating at least a portion of the first distillate in a second column at a second pressure to yield an ethanol product stream and an ethyl acetate stream;
- wherein the second pressure is higher than the first pressure.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.