Simulation of Ethanol Production by Fermentation of Molasses
Ethanol is a renewable resource of energy and is potentially cleaner alternative to fossil fuels. Production of ethanol is growing day by day at a great extent for its versatile application and demand. During recent years, production of ethanol by fermentation on a large scale has been of considerable interest to meet to increased demand. It has long been recognized that molasses from sugar-cane or sugar provide suitable substrates for ethanol production. Production of ethanol by fermentation of molasses is simulated by Simulation software Aspen Hysys 7.1 to investigate the effect of few important parameters like fermentation temperature, pressure that effect the production of ethanol.  The present investigation has demonstrated that decrease of fermentation temperature enhance the production rate of ethanol. To maximize the production of ethanol, an optimum boiler water feed flow rate of 120 kgmole per hour was determined.