Fortalecimiento de los procesos de elaboración de alcohol etílico de origen agrícola en ASOEMPRAC mediante el análisis de operaciones unitarias y productos de consumo para contribuir en el desarrollo tecnológico del cantón Pangua : Diseño de una planta para rectificación de etanol de origen artesanal para producir etanol de consumo humano en el cantón Pangua.

Abstract

The work presented below aimed to design an artisanal alcohol rectification plant to produce human-consumable ethanol in the Pangua canton, on land owned by ASOEMPRAC members, under environmental conditions of 0.86 atm and 25°C. The operational design considered a feed flow rate of 0.18 L/s of a non-ideal binary mixture of artisanal ethanol at 55% v/v, enabling an annual operation of 260 days, for 8 hours per day, ensuring compliance with the NTE INEN 362 regulations established for the quality of cane spirit for human consumption. After analyzing the different options of unit operations that can be used and their advantages and disadvantages in achieving the process objectives, it was established that the rectification process begins when the stored alcohol is directed to a fractional distillation column with reflux, where the bottoms are heated in a concentric tube reboiler using steam from a water-tube boiler, generating upward vapor. The enriched vapor is cooled in the coil-type condenser, converting it back into liquid, obtaining distillate and reflux. After passing through a coil-type heat exchanger to reduce the temperature, the distillate is stored in a tank. The water used, both in the condenser and in the heat exchanger and boiler, is pretreated with an ion exchange water softener to remove minerals, ensuring optimal equipment performance and final product quality. Mass and energy balances were carried out based on fluid properties obtained at the specified ambient conditions and the energy gain or loss from each unit operation. This allowed for the development of the process block diagram (BPD) and process flow diagram (PFD), to which automatic pressure, flow, and level control systems were added for the proper operation of the equipment. Finally, the equipment for the various unit operations of the rectification process was sized for different operating conditions through engineering calculations that ensured the feasibility and effectiveness of the rectification process.