MaximaLabs

Bio-ethanol, with the stillage heat put back to work

A dilute beer concentrated toward the azeotrope, and the stillage evaporator's vapour mechanically recompressed into the duty that produced it.

Rigorous MESH beer column to the azeotropeMVR: the stillage vapour's latent heat recovered as dutyCompressor work traded against reboiler steam, solved
Dilute beer (10% EtOH)
Beer column
Ethanol product
Steam
Stillage evaporator
MVR compressor
Syrup
Condensate
Recompressed vapour

The actual dark-mode canvas: a 10% beer concentrated toward the azeotrope, and the stillage bottoms evaporated with the vapour recompressed back into the evaporator as heating duty.

Compressor work in place of reboiler steam

Recompressing the stillage vapour lifts its saturation temperature above the evaporating liquid, so it can heat the very effect that produced it. The compressor work and the duty it displaces are both solved, which is the only way the trade is honest.

Ln1+Vn+1+Fn=Ln+Vn(real MESH in the beer column)L_{n-1} + V_{n+1} + F_n = L_n + V_n \quad \text{(real MESH in the beer column)}
Wcomp=n˙(houthin)n˙Δhvap(the MVR trade)W_{\text{comp}} = \dot n\bigl(h_{\text{out}} - h_{\text{in}}\bigr) \ll \dot n\,\Delta h_{\text{vap}} \quad \text{(the MVR trade)}
recompressed vapour condenses at Tsat(Pdisch)>Tevap\text{recompressed vapour condenses at } T_{\text{sat}}(P_{\text{disch}}) > T_{\text{evap}}

Unit ops shipped for this vertical

Distillation column

Wang-Henke MESH column solver — the same rigorous solve at any scale.

Run preset →
Evaporator (effect)

Process feed against heating steam — concentrated liquid, vapour boil-off and steam condensate in one balance.

Run preset →
Compressor

Polytropic compression to pipeline/process pressure.

Run preset →
Live plant integration

Stream beer-column reflux, evaporator pressure and MVR compressor discharge from the plant's OPC-UA server into this flowsheet's twin comparison — an MVR loop drifting off its solved duty balance is where a dry-mill's energy cost quietly goes.

See the Digital Twin platform →

Try it yourself

  • Rigorous MESH beer column to the azeotrope
  • MVR recovers the stillage vapour's latent heat as heating duty
  • Compressor work traded against reboiler steam, both solved

Ready to modernize your bio-ethanol simulations?

Stop fighting legacy software. Build your first flowsheet in 60 seconds.