The system, which is developed by Greenbelt Resources’ subsidiary Diversified Ethanol, is claimed to improve the efficiency of ethanol dehydration and help reduce costs associated with designing and servicing a system compared with alternatives.
It incorporates the Hitachi-Zosen membrane and uses a series of repeating smaller vessels, each comprising fewer membranes that together form a single, higher capacity module.
The company installed the membrane system for the Stan Mayfield Bio Refinery Pilot Plant at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences laboratory at the Buckeye Technology facility in Taylor County.
Diversified Ethanol founder and chief technology officer Floyd Butterfield said, "Our goal has always been to apply innovative thinking and engineering to the ethanol production process as a means of providing a lower cost fuel alternative that helps our economy become more self-sufficient and less reliant on foreign oil.
"Not only does our approach enable more energy-efficient separation of water, it sets the stage for us to apply our membrane module technology to other separations that offer additional energy-saving and economic benefits to our products and the community."
