Ethanol, as an end product of processing sugar cane, either as Coproduce of sugar or directly from this raw material, is affected by the variations inherent in an agricultural product, as well as by the various processes involved until it is made available for storage and/or shipping.
In the processing of sugarcane, in quantities not well standardized, are added various chemicals that normally come out on stillage or “flegma”, but some of them persist in following the ethanol, especially when they are hydrated in solution with water.
Among the previously mentioned technical regulation specifications, conductivity and pH of ethanol are the ones most affected by the raw material and processing, not leaving to a second plane the ions chlorides – sodium, iron and sulphate. Actions to correct these parameters during the process does not always result in success, when not, correcting a parameter may change another, a very common fact between pH and conductivity.
Without neglecting the process, the solution that NG brings to the market is the purification of the final product through ion-exchange resins, where in two independent columns the cations and anions are removed, being retained in the resins and so adjusting the ethanol to legislation. Because it is a system where supplementary regeneration operations are necessary, we decided to offer the market the SIPET – Ethanol Purification System, a product ready for use since it is provided in a skid, only requiring its connection to the ethanol, water and wastewater piping and electric power supply.
The theoretical concept of operation is the use of phenolic resins that have the ability to retain the ions: first the positively charged (cations) which are replaced by hydrogen ions (H+) of the cationic resin, and then those of negative charge (anions) which are replaced by hydroxyls (OH-) of the anionic resin. After the Ionic charge of resins has been exhausted by contaminants, a regeneration process restores the hydrogen and hydroxyls continuing to a new cycle of purification.
