Ethanol dehydration

This review outlines ethanol dehydration processes and their most important characteristics. It also deals with the main operating variables and some criteria used in designing the separation scheme. A differentiation is made between processes involving liquid-steam balance in separation operations and those doing it by screening the difference in molecule size. The last part presents a comparison between the three main industrial processes, stressing their strengths and weaknesses from the operational, energy consumption and industrial services points of view.