LIQUID-VAPOR EQUILIBRIUM THERMODYNAMICS OF THE FUSEL OIL: A CASE STUDY

Resumo

Fusel oil is a by-product of the process of recovering hydrated ethanol, consisting of a mixture of superior alcohols, ethanol, water, among other components. Its commercial interest is mainly due to the presence of isoamyl alcohol, one of the raw materials used in the synthesis of esters, which compounds are relevant for the chemical industry. The recovery of this superior alcohol involves unit operations based on phase equilibrium, which for multicomponent systems can be studied in software that simulates the operation of equipment, in order to present predictions of interactions between its components, reducing errors, time and costs of design. In the industrial, academic and scientific fields, there are numerous challenges regarding the design of separation processes and the monitoring of mixing effects in typical operations, and the Aspen Plus process simulation and optimization platform excels in solving these issues. The current study aims to predict the Liquid-Vapor Equilibrium of the fusel oil, which was considered as a mixture of five components, from the behavioral analysis of each of the binaries that compose it. Several models were investigated, observing the deviations of the ideality as well as the azeotrope formation. The most suitable model to describe the behavior of the studied mixture was determined with the aid ofliterature data for the Liquid-Vapor Equilibrium of the Isoamyl alcohol/Water binary. The results show that the Wilson modeling presented better adjustment to the experimental data, although modeling with modified Wilson also showed appreciable adjustments.