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.