CARNEIRO, L. O.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/7642837756551697; CARNEIRO, Lucas de Oliveira.
Résumé:
In face of the growing need for more efficient processes, from an energy, economic and
environmental point of view, several process intensification technologies have been evaluated
in the last years, especially in separation processes. In addition, the demand for renewable raw
materials has grown in order to increase the participation of circular economy in chemical
industries. In this context, the main objective of the present work is the development of
intensified processes for the recovery of organic acids of industrial interest found in the vinasse
produced in the ethanol fermentation. Three scenarios were evaluated; each scenario considers
a 1%wt. composition of an organic acid in vinasse. The three acids studied were acetic acid,
lactic acid, and succinic acid. For each acid, two processes were developed, one conventional
and the other intensified. Each process was optimized considering the total annual cost as the
objective function. The results indicate that the recovery of acetic acid using mechanical vapor
recompression is the most attractive from the energetic (76.3 GJ/h), economic (TAC of 10.3
MMU$) and environmental (47.1 kt/year of CO2 emitted) perspectives. One of the main
conclusions of this study, however, is that process intensification is very attractive to reduce
the energy consumption and the environmental penalty of conventional distillation processes.