ETHANOL PRODUCER'S DATA BASE

[Origins] - [Cooling Coils Expalined] - [Cooling Circuit Basic Diagram]

• If you remove the cooling coils from the reflux section of the 803,
• You will need to stretch the column from 36" to 120" or even 180”
  • To obtain the same separation efficiency.

Temperature gradients from the boiler to the condenser:
1) Run the boiler to roughly 190°F ( the boiling point of 5% Ethanol and 95% water )

2) Monitor this temperature and note the rising of the boiling point as the batch
looses its ethanol; when the temperature of the boiler has reached 212°F, all the ethanol has been vaporized and the batch is finished  distilling.

 3) This means the temperature of the vapors entering the base of the column will follow roughly the same temperature pattern, since there will be very little losses from the boiler to the vapor inlet fitting.

 4) We are looking at and ideal ( theoratical )  10 to 15  plates The HETP is a direct proportion to the column length. 
Using marbles as packing materials gives a HETP of 12” This means a column of between 10 Feet to 15 Feet tall would be required to distill a 160 to 190 Proof Ethanol.
Natural dynamics of equilibrium inside a reflux comumn require time and energy loss ;
A ) When the vapors enter the column at the base, they need to travel up the column and slowly loose temperature until they have reached the ideal 172.6°F requiring a column of up to 15 feet tall. (The reflux section of a C803 is 3 feet tall.) 
B) By adding the cooling coil, we create a forced environment that will emulate the right HETP within a fraction of a normal column length ( height ).
C) The cooling circuit starts at the top of the condenser section, and travels down the entire column, the water temperature gradually heats up as it travels down causing an infinite gradient with its control point taken at the top of the reflux column just before the vapors enter the condenser with a set point of slightly above 172.6°F ( Between 173 and 174°F, lower then that will cause the ethanol to fall back down the column and more will cause the proof to fall sharply ).

 
 NOTE: This temperature will vary with the atmospheric pressure and elevation and has to be defined before the distillation run starts, by defining the distillation tempearture.
(GOSEE: http://gillesenergies.webs.com/boilingpointaltitude.htm  )