Use of Power Ultrasound for Nonthermal, Nonequilibrium Separation of Ethanol/Water Solutions

Separation of liquid mixtures, frequently by distillation, consumes large amounts of energy in the chemical and process industries. This project proposes to develop, test, and demonstrate a continuous-flow, scalable, nonthermal, nonequilibrium liquid separation for the test case of ethanol + water that uses ultrasound, and avoids the heat transfer losses and azeotropic bottleneck of distillation. The basis of the separation is straightforward. When ultrasound passes through a nominally quiescent liquid with a free surface above, droplets are produced and form a mist.

Investigators

Hao Feng
Professor of Food and Bioprocess Engineering

Date approved

July 01, 2018
Current TRL
6

High Purity Ethanol without Distillation: Carbon Nanotube Enabled Ethanol Dewatering

Biofuels produced from fermentation processes have long been processed using decades-old distillation technology. Distilling a minor component of this broth to a high purity requires substantial amounts of energy that can lessen the net-energy and profitability of the fuel produced. This work will demonstrate a new technology concept developed by Mattershift, LLC that uses a carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane to selectively extract the biofuel, in this case ethanol, from a fermentation broth.

Investigators

Jeffery McCutcheon
Associate Professor and Executive Director, Frauhofer USA Center for Energy Innovation

Partner Organizations

University of Connecticut

Date approved

July 01, 2018
Current TRL
4

Three-Way Catalytic Distillation to Renewable Surfactants via Triglycerides

Renewable feedstocks, including triglycerides and lignocellulose-derived sugars, can be converted to a new class of ionic surfactants, called “oleo-furan sulfonates” (OFS) by multi-step solid acid catalysis. The renewable OFS surfactant exhibits superior properties relative to conventional fossil-derived materials with higher micelle-forming efficiency, stability in cold water, and resistance to hard water.

Investigators

Paul Dauenhauer
Lanny & Charlotte Schmidt Professor and MacArthur Fellow

Date approved

November 01, 2017
Current TRL
4

Sugars-To-Bioproducts Scalable Platform Technology

While tremendous progress has been achieved on creating routes for the production of chemicals and fuels from lignocellulosic biomass, many of these processes are not economic due to the number of process steps required and the requirement for significant inter-stage separations. This project is developing a modularized chemical process intensification technology for the production of bio-para-xylene (biopX) from glucose.

Investigators

Dion Vlachos
Allan and Myra Ferguson Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Partner Organizations

University of Delaware

Date approved

November 01, 2017
Current TRL
4

Pages