Successful Startup of Commercial Demonstration Unit for Ethanol Production from Acetic Acid Hydrogenation Using Technology Licensed by CAS

On April 28, 2016 the 30 kt/a commercial demonstration unit for manufacture of ethanol via acetic acid hydrogenation, which adopts the catalytic technology and technology for dehydration by zeolite membrane licensed by the CAS Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, has successfully become operational at the first attempt and is now operating smoothly at the Jiangsu Topo (Group) Co., Ltd. Till the morning of May 6, 2016 this unit has been continuously and stably operating for 8 days while delivering anhydrous ethanol with a purity of 99.6%, which is better than China’s standard for technical ethanol quality.

Since ethanol and water can form an azeotropic mixture, the osmotic vaporization and vapor permeation technique have been applied in the production of technical anhydrous ethanol following the development of membrane separation technology in the 1980s. The key for realization of osmotic vaporization and vapor permeation technique is to develop a high-quality separation membrane. This demonstration technology for acetic acid hydrogenation is a commercial technology that can organically integrate the high-ef fi ciency acetic acid hydrogenation technology with the technique for lowenergy-consumption dehydration by zeolite membrane.

This project is a sub-project envisaged in the CAS strategic forward-guiding technical project: “Key techniques for clean and effective cascade utilization of low-grade coal and its demonstration.” The successful startup of this demonstration unit can provide the key technology and experienced support to the construction, commissioning and operation of future large commercial units.