Process Simulation of a Commercial Pervaporation Unit for Ethanol–Water Separation
Pervaporation is a proven technology that overcomes distillation to produce high-quality ethanol. The process is modeled and simulated in the literature, but the model’s accuracy with industrial data is rarely discussed. In this work, a commercial pervaporation membrane was modeled and simulated in...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Eng |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4117/6/7/136 |
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| author | Yousef Alqaheem Sharifah H. Alkandari |
| author_facet | Yousef Alqaheem Sharifah H. Alkandari |
| author_sort | Yousef Alqaheem |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Pervaporation is a proven technology that overcomes distillation to produce high-quality ethanol. The process is modeled and simulated in the literature, but the model’s accuracy with industrial data is rarely discussed. In this work, a commercial pervaporation membrane was modeled and simulated in UniSIM<sup>®</sup> (R490) to purify ethanol from water after the azeotrope point of distillation. The pervaporation system was developed manually using a component splitter, adjust functions, and a spreadsheet. Results show that the simulation calculations were acceptable and differed from pilot-plant data by 4.6%. A correction factor was used to reduce the error further to 0.7%. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-74cea18fccda42adb5e0c047a0f61d12 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2673-4117 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Eng |
| spelling | doaj-art-74cea18fccda42adb5e0c047a0f61d122025-07-25T13:22:02ZengMDPI AGEng2673-41172025-06-016713610.3390/eng6070136Process Simulation of a Commercial Pervaporation Unit for Ethanol–Water SeparationYousef Alqaheem0Sharifah H. Alkandari1Petroleum Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Safat 13109, KuwaitPetroleum Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Safat 13109, KuwaitPervaporation is a proven technology that overcomes distillation to produce high-quality ethanol. The process is modeled and simulated in the literature, but the model’s accuracy with industrial data is rarely discussed. In this work, a commercial pervaporation membrane was modeled and simulated in UniSIM<sup>®</sup> (R490) to purify ethanol from water after the azeotrope point of distillation. The pervaporation system was developed manually using a component splitter, adjust functions, and a spreadsheet. Results show that the simulation calculations were acceptable and differed from pilot-plant data by 4.6%. A correction factor was used to reduce the error further to 0.7%.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4117/6/7/136pervaporation membraneUniSIM<sup>®</sup>ethanol purificationdistillation azeotrope |
| spellingShingle | Yousef Alqaheem Sharifah H. Alkandari Process Simulation of a Commercial Pervaporation Unit for Ethanol–Water Separation Eng pervaporation membrane UniSIM<sup>®</sup> ethanol purification distillation azeotrope |
| title | Process Simulation of a Commercial Pervaporation Unit for Ethanol–Water Separation |
| title_full | Process Simulation of a Commercial Pervaporation Unit for Ethanol–Water Separation |
| title_fullStr | Process Simulation of a Commercial Pervaporation Unit for Ethanol–Water Separation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Process Simulation of a Commercial Pervaporation Unit for Ethanol–Water Separation |
| title_short | Process Simulation of a Commercial Pervaporation Unit for Ethanol–Water Separation |
| title_sort | process simulation of a commercial pervaporation unit for ethanol water separation |
| topic | pervaporation membrane UniSIM<sup>®</sup> ethanol purification distillation azeotrope |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4117/6/7/136 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yousefalqaheem processsimulationofacommercialpervaporationunitforethanolwaterseparation AT sharifahhalkandari processsimulationofacommercialpervaporationunitforethanolwaterseparation |