Plant Design for the Production of Bioethanol from Acid- Hydrolyzed Fruit and Vegetable Wastes

Abstract

The Philippine government takes proactive measures to address the problems associated with the rapidly growing demand for petroleum-based products and their harmful emissions. Despite the mitigating measures proposed by the government, such as the Biofuels Act of 2006 (R. A. 9363), several factors hinder the successful implementation of the mandated program. These factors include the scarcity of feedstock supply required to produce alternative and sustainable biofuels, high production costs, and inadequate capacity of bioethanol plants. Keeping this in mind, researchers have proposed utilizing fruit and vegetable waste collected from Bacolod City and designing an economical process for producing fuel-grade bioethanol. The preparation of the material and energy balances, equipment and plant design, and the overall process flow of the plant were based on the applications of chemical engineering principles, theories, safety measures, process control and instrumentation, heuristics, and quality standards sourced from chemical engineering textbooks, handbooks, and other online resources. The proposed plant has a capacity of 30,000 LPD. It is composed of five major processes, which include the mechanical process, acid hydrolysis (conversion of cellulose into glucose), fermentation (conversion of glucose into ethanol), distillation (separation of ethanol), and dehydration (increasing ethanol purity). This plant design addresses the energy demand challenge by identifying viable and sustainable feedstock sources for bioethanol production. As a result, it will allow consumers to access fuel-grade ethanol at an affordable price while simultaneously helping alleviate current environmental issues.