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Introduction: Fusel oil currently constitutes a waste product that possesses in its composition a wide range of alcohols that position it as a versatile product for various industrial sectors. Objective: To obtain high commercial value products from fusel oil sample characterization and process simulation in Aspen Hysys v10.0. Materials and Methods: Three fusel oil samples from a Cuban distillery were characterized by gas chromatography. A statistical analysis of the normal distribution between the compositions of the samples and a hypothesis test were performed using Statgraphics Centurion XVII. A reactive distillation technique was modeled using the Aspen Hysys v10.0 simulator and the results were validated with data reported in the literature. Results and Discussion: In the characterizations carried out for the three fusel oil samples, there is the presence of isoamyl alcohol as the major component. It was found that their compositions do not present significant differences among them. With the reactive distillation technology, a mixture of esters is obtained, composed of 65.66 % vol. of isoamyl acetate, 11.05 % vol. of isobutyl acetate and in the distillate 40.16 % vol. of ethyl acetate. 14,040 m3/year of cooling water, 82,280 kg/year of steam and 5,328 kg/year of fuel oil are consumed. Conclusions: With fusel reactive distillation technology, more than 45 % of high value-added products are obtained for the bioethanol industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the forage yeast production process, nitrogen-contributing salts represent a high impact on production costs due to their high prices in the market. Objective: To evaluate nationally produced ammonium nitrate as a source of nitrogen in the growth of Candida utilis (C. utilis) in final molasses and vinasses media at laboratory scale. Materials and Methods: A comparative study was carried out beween the tradicional scheme with ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate as a nitrogen source. The C.utilis NRRL Y-1084 strain was used. Simple ANOVA analysis and Fisher's LSD multiple range test were performed on Statgraphics Centurion XVII to determine whether there are significant differences or not. Each experimental condition was performed in triplicate. Results and Discussion: The C. utilis responds favorably in the presence of ammonium nitrate with values of net gain of biomass in honey medium of 5.90 and 7.22 g.L-1 and in vinasse medium of 4.45 and 4.12 g.L-1. The yield based on the consumption of ART was 22 and 25%, higher than that obtained in the traditional scheme with ammonium sulfate (15%). The COD removal levels achieved are higher (29.21% and 34.39%) than that obtained with ammonium sulfate (28.92%). Conclusions: Ammonium nitrate as a nitrogen source does not cause changes in the propagation of the strain and represents a saving in production costs by raw materials buy of 2,534,654 CUP/year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The comparison between three methods to calculate the exergy of the currents involved in the exergetic balance of alcoholic distillation columns is presented. Exergy of the currents was considered as: 1) flow exergies, 2) heat exergies and 3) the sum of flow exergy and chemical exergy. The implementation of the exergetic analysis was examined as a key point to improve the efficiency of the process. A case study, where the methods are applied for the evaluation of the exergy is analyzed; differences among the methods were obtained between the 15% and 30 %. The influence of the studied columns in total work capacity loss was determined, concluding that regardless of the method, the distillation column has shown the higher loss. An economic analysis was made applying the first method to the case study, where the percentage of ethanol in wine increases from 5.8 °GL to 9 °GL, which led to a decrease of vapor consumption of 23.66%, an exergetic yield increase of 28.02 % and a combustion gas flow reduction of 24 627 034.4 m³/year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In this work, some of the necessary equipment for an ethanol dehydration plant is designed to meet the country's demand. Objective: To design the heat exchangers and adsorption columns needed for 100 hL/d ethanol dehydration plant. Materials and Methods: The consumption of steam and cooling water was determined, with Aspen Hysys v10.0. The methodology for the design of the heat exchangers in Aspen EDR was established and the adsorption columns with zeolite 3A were dimensioned using equations reported in the consulted bibliography. Results and Discussion: For the maximum capacity of the plant, 100 hL/d, 248.68 kg/h of steam and 6221 kg/h of cooling water are consumed. The design of seven heat exchangers was obtained; all of them meet the requirements of the allowable pressure drop and the fouling or obstruction factor. In the case of the adsorption columns the result was that the height is 3.5 m and a diameter of 0.3 m. Conclusions: With the Aspen EDR tool heat exchangers design for the specified operating conditions were done in a simple way. Adsorption column with synthetic zeolite 3A produce dehydration ethanol with the required quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]