Design Of a Sustainable Process For Separation Of Methanol From Wood Vinegar In Sub-Saharan Africa

Wood vinegar can be extracted through destructive distillation by heating wood to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. The wood releases gases composed of methanol, water, acetone, and acetic acid, whose composition varies depending on wood type and geographic location. The application of extracting wood vinegar is difficult in rural Africa due to limited access to modern technology and molecular interactions. The UKATS Research group from University of Kentucky fabricated a biochar processor which carries out destructive distillation and collects methanol to be used in a biodiesel reactor also fabricated for use in rural Africa. This process was modeled using the Aspen Batch Distillation software package to determine the practicality of this approach. Composition and temperature graphs that show promising results to achieve near pure methanol collection will be presented. This research was funded in part by a US EPA People, Prosperity and the Planet student design competition grant.