Ethanol dehydration via azeotropic distillation with gasoline fraction mixtures as entrainers: A pilot-scale study with industrially produced bioethanol and naphta

• We have tested at pilot scale a new process to obtain a bioethanol–naphta fuel blend by azeotropic distillation.
• We have studied the influence of the heat duty in the water content of the fuel blends.
• We have studied the use of several hydrocarbon mixtures as entrainers.
• We have studied industrially produced bioethanol and naphta as process feed.

Various hydrocarbons (n-hexane, cyclohexane, toluene, isooctane) and mixtures of them (binary, ternary or quaternary), as well as two different types of industrially produced naphtha (one obtained by direct distillation and the other from a catalytic cracking process), have been tested as candidate entrainers to dehydrate ethanol. The tests were carried out in an azeotropic distillation column on a semi pilot plant. The results show that it is possible to dehydrate bioethanol using naphtha as entrainer, obtaining as a result a fuel blend with negligible water content and ready for immediate use in motor vehicles.