(394e) Simulation of the Process for Producing Butanol from Corn Fermentation

This study is concerned with the simulation of the process for producing butanol via acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) fermentation from corn, which can be used as one of the bases for assessing the potential benefit in energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in exploiting corn to produce butanol and utilizing butanol as a potential transportation fuel. The result of this process simulation can provide information in evaluating the viability and potential energy and environmental benefits of butanol as a transportation fuel. The current simulation involves the whole process of the production, including upstream corn dry mill, liquefaction, saccharification, fermentation, and downstream processing. Process simulations are carried out in this work to integrate the whole process. Data for the process development are adopted from existing corn dry mill studies, experimental studies for fermentation and downstream processing, and prior process simulations for the fermentation and the downstream processing. Multiple processes are developed and presented in this paper. Various aspects of the processes, for instance, the-state-of-art for the unit operations included and the overall energy use in the production, are discussed and compared.