Design and optimization of a high-efficiency distillation process for cellulosic fuel ethanol integrated with thermal coupling and molecular sieve adsorption

Feng Xuefeng; Lu Shuaishuai; Du Xuan; Zhuang Shaolan; Ren Zhongqi; Ding Zhongwei; Li Qunsheng; Feng Weiying; Zhao Hongkang

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Design and optimization of a high-efficiency distillation process for cellulosic fuel ethanol integrated with thermal coupling and molecular sieve adsorption

Updated：2026-03-13

- Design and optimization of a high-efficiency distillation process for cellulosic fuel ethanol integrated with thermal coupling and molecular sieve adsorption
- Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol. 89, Issue 1, Pages: 13-24(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  Engineering Research Center of Preparation Technology of Ultra-Pure Chemicals for Integrated Circuits, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
  State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
  School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
- Author bio：
  
  Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: buctlqs@126.com(Q. Li)
  fengweiying@buaa.edu.cn(W. Feng)
  2022500026@buct.edu.cn(H. Zhao).
- Funds：
- DOI：
  CLC：
- Received：26 June 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-08-03，
  
  Accepted：06 August 2025，
  
  Online First：01 September 2025，
  
  Published：2026-01
- Accepted：
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Feng Xuefeng, Lu Shuaishuai, Du Xuan, et al. Design and optimization of a high-efficiency distillation process for cellulosic fuel ethanol integrated with thermal coupling and molecular sieve adsorption[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2026, 89(1): 13-24.
DOI：

Feng Xuefeng, Lu Shuaishuai, Du Xuan, et al. Design and optimization of a high-efficiency distillation process for cellulosic fuel ethanol integrated with thermal coupling and molecular sieve adsorption[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2026, 89(1): 13-24. DOI：

摘要

Abstract

To address the challenges of high energy consumption and prominent costs in the traditional threecolumns distillation process for cellulosic fuel ethanol

a distillation—molecular sieve coupling separation process is proposed. This process integrates a three-column (crude distillation column

first distillation column

second distillation column) system with a 3A molecular sieve adsorption deep dehydration unit. A thermal coupling network is constructed

via

differential pressure design (steam from medium/high-pressure columns as mutual heat sources

reboiler l

iquid waste heat for feed preheating)

and molecular sieve adsorption conditions are optimized. The study first performs a thermodynamic consistency test on the ethanol—water system

determines optimal non-random two-liquid (NRTL) model binary interaction parameters

via

experimental data regression for Aspen Plus simulation. Aiming at minimum total annual cost (TAC)

Aspen Plus is used to optimize process parameters (theoretical tray number

feed location

reflux ratio

side-draw position

etc

.). Economic analysis shows this process reduces CO

emission costs by 27.56%

TAC by 15.58% (to 5.123 × 10

USD·a

- 1

)

and increases ethanol purity to ＞99.6%

providing an effective solution for green

efficient separation.

关键词

Keywords

references

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