The minimum water consumption of ethanol production via biomass fermentation

Date

2008-11-01

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Abstract

The water consumption of fermentation-based bio-ethanol production has recently begun to attract public attention. We calculate a minimum consumption of 2.85 gal water/gal of ethanol produced assuming zero liquid discharge and otherwise current industrial practice data. Including cooling tower blowdown and drift this value may increase to on the order of 4 gal water/gal of ethanol produced. Reduction of the thermal energy input to the process is vital to reduce this irretrievable water consumption.

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Keywords

Ethanol, Water demand, Bio-ethanol, Cooling water, Minimum water demand

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