November 2004 - New success in the distillation department
of GEA Wiegand. Within just some few days, a plant for the production of
330,000 liters of bioethanol per day could be commissioned. This was possible
thanks to a dynamic computer simulation that was carried out for the first
time. In this simulation, each process step in the plant is tested in advance.
The highlight of this plant is the thermal coupling within the columns,
achieving extremely low energy consumption values.
The molecular sieve is integrated into the thermal process.
This is a worldwide new technology: for the first time it was possible to
couple the discontinuous process for the dehydration of alcohol with two
continuous processes to purify and treat the alcohol. Two further plants of the
same size that at the moment can be designated to be the biggest and most
modern bioethanol plants in Europe, are beeing constructed and will be
completed by the end of the year.