Material Balance Calculations

For the engineering aspect of the research, material balance calculations and
preliminary costing analysis were done. Material balance calculation was employed on
the following processes: centrifugation, fermentation, distillation and dehydration. The
amount of sugarcane juice, nutrients, yeast and media to be used were calculated and
considered in the preliminary costing. The efficiencies of the equipment used in the
calculations are based on either existing studies or existing industrial equipment. The
amount of retentate (isoluble solids), filter cake, carbon dioxide and water vapor
produced were also calculated. On the other hand, fermentation yield was calculated
based on the literature value of glucose to ethanol conversion. In all the component
balance calculations, only the sugar, ethanol and insoluble solids contents are specified to
simplify the calculations. All other parameters which are deemed to be unnecessary to the
calculations are classified under others.

The over-all process block diagram is

presented in Figure 4-13.

A capacity of 1000 L of sugarcane juice is used as the basis of the material
balance calculations. All units of values presented in the material balance are in per hour
basis. The sugar cane juice density used in the calculations is based on the study of
Astolfi-Filho, et al.(2011). Equation 4-1 shows the over-all material balance equation for
the centrifugation of the sugarcane juice while Equation 4-2 presents the component mass
balance for insoluble solids. Figure 4-14 shows the flowsheet for the said process. In the
operations, it is assumed that the equipment (disc centrifuge) has a maximum separation
efficiency of 66.97% (Kumar, V., Vijay, V.K., & Agarwal, U.S., 2008).

Figure 4-14. Flowsheet for the centrifugation of the sugar

cane juice.

SCJ =CJ + IS
(Equation 4-1)
IS= IS i

(Equation 4-2)

where:
SCJ
CJ
ISi
IS

is the flowrate of sugarcane juice (kg/h)

is the flowrate of the clarified juice (kg/h)
is the initial flowrate of the insoluble solids (kg/h)
is the final flowrate of the insoluble solids (kg/h)
is the disc centrifuge efficiency (%)

The clarified juice will undergo continuous fermentation. Figure 4-15 shows the
flowsheet for the continuous fermentation of the clarified sugarcane juice. The clarified
juice shall be mixed with nutrients, yeast and media, the amount of which are
calculatedbased on the protocols presented by Del Rosario, et al. (1987) for nutrients, and

Martinez, et al. (2007) for yeast and media. The conversion of sugar to ethanol was
assumed to be 0.514 (www.livestrong.com/article/126363-glucose-ethanol/). The
fermentation shall be carried out in a Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor at temperature
ranging from 25 C to 32 C. This range is adopted from the findings of this research.
Equation 4-3 presents the over-all material balance equation for the fermentation process.

Figure
4-15. Flowsheet of the continuous ethanol fermentation
of clarified sugarcane juice.

CJ + M +N +Y =CO 2+ FB

where:
CJ
M
N
Y
CO2
FB

is the flowrate of clarified juice (kg/h)

is the flowrate of the medium used (kg/h)
is the amount of the nutrients (kg)
is the amount of yeast (kg)
is the amount of evolved carbon dioxide (kg/h)
is the flowrate of the fermented broth (kg/h)

(Equation 4-3)

The fermented broth has an ethanol content of 67.2598 kg/h, which is equivalent
to 6.1951%. In order to increase the concentration of ethanol. The fermented broth shall
undergo distillation process. However, the broth should be filtered first to remove
unnecessary debris and materials prior to distillation. The filtration will be carried out in a
rotary filter with filtration efficiency of 99.7% (http://www.abbess.com/vac/filterexhaustandinlet.html). Figure 4-16 shows the flowsheet for the filtration of the fermented
broth. Equation 4-4 shows the material balance equation around the rotary filter.

Figure 4-16. Flowsheet for the filtration of the fermentation broth.

FB=S+ FFB

(Equation 4-4)

where:
FB
S
FFB

is the flowrate of the fermentation broth (kg/h)

is the flowrate of the solids (filter cake) (kg/h)
is the flowrate of the filtered fermentation broth (kg/h)

The filtered fermented broth is now ready to undergo distillation. Figure 4-17
shows the block diagram for the distillation process while Equation 4-5 presents the overall material balance equation. On the other hand, Equation 4-6 shows the component
balance equation for ethanol. According to Baticados, E.J., et al. (2010), the mass
fractions of bottoms and distillate are 0.0025 and 0.9560, respectively.

Figure 4-17. Flowsheet for the distillation of the clarified fermentation broth.

F=B+ D

(Equation 4-5)

F X F =B X B + D X D
(Equation 4-6)
where:
F
B

is the fermentation broth (kg/h)

is the bottoms (kg/h)

D
XF
XB
XD

is the distillate (kg/h)

is the mass fraction of ethanol in fermentation broth
is the mass fraction of ethanol in bottoms
is the mass fraction of ethanol in distillate

The resulting product from the distillation is hydrous ethanol (95.6% w/w). In
order to further increase the ethanol concentration to 99.5% (w/w), the product shall be
subjected dehydration by use of molecular sieves in a pervaporator system. Figure 4-18
shows the flowsheet for the pervaporator system. Equation 4-7 shows the material
balance equation around the pervaporator system.

Figure

4-17.

Flowsheet for the dehydration using molecular sieves

in a pervaporator system.

D=E+W
(Equation 4-7)
where:
D
E
W

is the distillate (kg/h)

is the 99.5% ethanol solution (kg/h)
is the water removed from the distillate (kg/h)