System for distilling ethanol using an air-cooled condenser

Abstract

The present invention is directed towards a system for condensing ethanol during the distillation stage of ethanol production by using an air-cooled condenser. Typically ethanol producing facilities use water-cooled condensers to cool the vaporized ethanol into liquid ethanol. However this water-cooled condenser uses about 50% of the water used in the cooling tower and requires replacement. Due to growing concerns and scrutiny of water usage in the ethanol producing industry air-cooled condensers in the distillation step of ethanol production can significantly conserve water.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A system for distilling ethanol in an ethanol production facility comprising:
 a rectifier configured to heat ethanol, said rectifier having an inlet flow supply line positioned at the bottom of said rectifier for receiving said ethanoland an ethanol vapor outlet flow line configured to output a source of ethanol vapor;   an air cooled condenser, wherein the air used to cool the air-cooled condenser is at a temperature of 78° C. or less, said air cooled condenser including a plurality of individual condenser modules, each of which has cooling coils and a condenser inlet flow supply line configured to receive said ethanol vapor from said ethanol vapor outlet flow line, said cooling coils in fluid communication with the condenser inlet flow supply line;   at least one air blower configured to be positioned below said cooling coils for directing air over the cooling coils to remove heat therefrom;   wherein said air cooled condenser is configured to condense said ethanol vapor to liquid ethanol during a distillation step by passing said ethanol vapor through said air-cooled condenser cooling coils thereby eliminating the need to cool said ethanol vapor with a water cooled condenser to reduce the use of water in the ethanol production facility by more than 25%; and   a storage medium for storing the liquid ethanol.   
     
     
         2 . A system as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising a dehydration system for receiving the stored liquid ethanol. 
     
     
         3 . A system as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising a water-cooling tower located in the ethanol production facility wherein said system reduces the load on said water-cooling tower by 50%.