Can simple distillation economically produce 96% ethanol concentrations?
In Brazil, the majority of ethanol biorefineries utilize sugar cane feedstocks and conventional distillation columns to produce 95% ethanol. Though most corn to ethanol biorefineries in the US produce 92-93% ethanol, this could be increased to 95-96% ethanol by simply increasing the efficiency of fractionation distillation columns similar to what Brazil producers are already doing. However, the potential opportunity to utilize less than 95-96% ethanol concentrations is technologically feasible and economically attractive, particularly for lower and midlevel blends. Extensive engine testing of E100 anhydrous and hydrous fuels containing 7-20% water have been compared. Hydrous ethanol with 93% ethanol and 7% water performs efficiently in automobile and high performance aviation engines. According to automobile and aviation fuel tests for midlevel to high level blends, 4-7% water in hydrous ethanol can actually enhance thermodynamic efficiency of internal combustion engines. This is parti
