Process Scheme 3

Ultrafiltration
(TMP = 2.1 bar, T = 1-40C)

Azeotropic Distillation
(P = 1.01 bar, T = 78.2 C)

The first step in the downstream processing of the products from fermentation is the removal of
insoluble from the fermentation broth (Lee, 2001). These insoluble components include the yeast
cells, residual sugars and other macromolecules. The solid-liquid separation being considered in
this process scheme is filtration. During filtration, the yeast cells are separated by forcing the
liquid through a filtering medium on which the solids are deposited. For this scheme, an
ultrafiltration equipment is used to separate the yeast cells from the fermentation broth. The
primary basis for this separation process is molecular size. The major unit operations used for
product recovery and purification and the major principles of separation is shown in Figure __.
This figure relates the separation process and the pore size measurements.

Figure __. Ranges of applications of some standard unit operations (Shuler & Kargi, 2002)
From Figure __, for a range of 1.0 to 10 4 , the unit operation that can be applied is
ultrafiltration. Typical values of yeast cell size ranges from 1 7 m (10 4 ), thus, using an
ultrafiltration for the separation of yeast cells from the fermentation broth is considered in this
process scheme. With this, it can be concluded that ultrafiltration is an effective and efficient
solid-liquid separation unit for the removal of 90 % or more yeast cells from the fermentation
broth (Dow Chemical Company, 2011). The operating transmembrane pressure (TMP) of the
equipment is 2.1 bar while the operating temperature can range from 1-40 C.
The separation of ethanol-water mixture is a common problem in the purification of ethanol
because ethanol forms a minimum boiling mixture (azeotropic mixture) with water at 97.2 vol %
volume at 78.15 C. Thus, a single ordinary distillation column will not be able to produce a high
purity ethanol (99 vol %). This leads another type of distillation column which is azeotropic
distillation (AD). This separation process involves addition of a third volatile component, called
the entrainer, which forms a ternary azeotrope with the two components to be separated and thus
changes their relative volatilities and finally alters their separation factor (activity coefficients) in
the distillation system. Commonly used entrainers are benzene, toluene, and cyclohexane. The
AD system consists of two distillation columns, a dehydration column for further concentration
in the presence of an entrainer, and an entrainer recovery column for the separation of entrainer
from the recovery stream. In the dehydration column, >99 wt% ethanol exits from the bottoms,
while water vapor, solvent, and small amounts of ethanol exit from the overhead. Then, the
overhead stream enters a decanter which splits the ethanol-entrainer and water-entrainer streams.
The ethanol-entrainer stream is refluxed into the first column while the water-entrainer stream is
processed in the entrainer recovery column (Huang, Ramaswamy, Tschirner, & Ramarao, 2008).
Table __ Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) for Process Scheme 3
Potential Failure
Process step
Potential Failure Effects
Severity
Mode
Low outlet flow
Low product recovery
9
Ultrafiltration
High outlet flow
No separation
8
Azeotropic
Distillation

Low operating
temperature
High operating
pressure
High liquid level

Inefficient separation
Inefficient separation due
to high liquid boiling point
Flooding

9
10
10

Potential Causes

Occurrence

Solids accumulation
on the membrane
Membrane rupture
Steam control valve
malfunction
Pressure control
valve malfunction
Level controller

8
4
7
6
6

Low liquid level

Inefficient separation

Low ethanol
concentration

Low product purity

10

malfunction
Composition
analyzer
malfunction

6
6