Cooling of Ethanol Fermentation Process Using Absorption Chillers

Ethanol fermentation is an exothermic process, where the kinetics depends on temperature. This study proposes an alternative cooling system for use in ethanol fermentation using a single-eect water/lithium bromide absorption chiller, powered by waste heat from sugar and ethanol production processes, with a temperature range of 80 to 100 oC. The aim of this study is to model, simulate and analyze the behavior of an absorption refrigeration machine, according to the required cooling capacity of the fermentation system. A comparative analysis with and without the chiller is performed. The introduction of a chiller allowed a reduction in the temperature of the medium of around 1 oC and an increase of around 0.8 % in the fermentation efficiency. Under these conditions less cellular stress occurs and cellular viability is kept at higher levels. The results show that this reduction in temperature can increase the ethanol content of the wine. In the recovery of ethanol, a lower thermal load will be needed at the distillation, with a smaller amount of vinasse produced and consequently the energy efficiency of the plant will increase.