Aspen Plus

Aspen Plus Bioethanol from Corn Model

Copyright 2008-2011 by Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Contents
1 Introduction .........................................................................................................2
2 Components .........................................................................................................3
3 Process Description..............................................................................................4
4 Physical Properties...............................................................................................5
5 Chemical Reactions ..............................................................................................6
6 Simulation Approach ............................................................................................7
7 Simulation Results ...............................................................................................9
8 Conclusions ........................................................................................................11

Contents

1 Introduction

This file is a model of a dry-grind corn-to-ethanol plant process and it is

intended for the following uses:

Understanding the relationships between key variables for producing

bioethanol from corn.

Provides an example of how to model the different areas of this process

Supply a starting set of components and physical property parameters for

modeling processes of this type

The model is not intended for equipment design or specifying other

engineering documents without further review by a process engineer with
experience of corn-to-ethanol processes.
The bioethanol from corn model includes the following features:

A nominal set of chemical species and property parameters for this

process.

Typical process areas including: liquefaction, saccharification,

fermentation, distillation, evaporation, dehydration, and the main streams
connecting these units.

Key process control specifications such as backset flow, fermenter ethanol

percent, solids concentration, specifications for distillation columns and
near-zero-net water balance.

Usability features such as an Excel SCALE calculator which allows the user
to scale plant production rate and apply corns of varying starch content.

1 Introduction

2 Components

The following components represent the chemical species present in the

process:
ID

Type

Formula

Name

WATER

CONV

H2O

WATER

ETOH

CONV

C2H6O-2

ETHANOL

CO2

CONV

CO2

CARBON-DIOXIDE

GLUCOSE

CONV

C6H12O6

DEXTROSE

STARCH

SOLID

C5POLY

SOLID

C6POLY

SOLID

PROTINS

SOLID

OIL

SOLID

NFDS

CONV

C6H12O6

Non-fermentable
Dissolved Solids

XYLOSE

CONV

C6H12O6

C5 Sugars

PROTSOL

CONV

C6H12O6

Soluble Protein

SOLID component types represent non-library chemicals with user specified

property parameters. CONV components such as NFDS, XYLOSE, and
PROTSOL originate as clones of glucose and are later modified with their own
property parameters. For example, the molecular weight of XYLOSE is
modified to that of xylose (C5) in a Pure Component paragraph.

2 Components

3 Process Description

The process includes the following stages:

System

Purpose

Milling

Reduces corn kernels to the particle size distribution required

for further processing

Liquification

Primary step in starch hydrolysis to release poly-saccharides

Saccharification

Enzymatic hydrolysis of polysaccharides to fermentable

sugars

Fermentation

Conversion of sugars to ethanol and CO2

Distillation

Concentration of ethanol to 190 proof

Dehydration

Concentration of ethanol to its final 200 proof

Centrifugation

Separate solids from liquid out of beer column bottoms

stream

Evaporation

Concentrate dissolved solids in stillage

Drying

Achieve desired moisture in DDGS (dried distillers grains with

solubles) product

3 Process Description

4 Physical Properties

This category includes the models and methods used to calculate the chemical
and thermodynamic equilibrium, and the physical properties of all streams.
The models used to calculate physical properties in Aspen Plus are grouped
into property methods named after the central model, for example, Ideal,
Redlich-Kwong-Soave, and NRTL (Non-Random Two Liquid). The property
method used in this model is NRTL.
Physical Properties are usually the most important and often the most difficult
part of a simulation. The accuracy of physical property calculations strongly
influences the reliability of the results and ultimately affects the estimated
cost of process equipment.

4 Physical Properties

5 Chemical Reactions

Dozens if not hundreds of chemical reactions occur in this process. These

have been simplified in this model to the following:

Saccharification
STARCH + WATER

GLUCOSE 99% conversion of STARCH

Fermentation
GLUCOSE

1.9 ETOH + 1.9 CO2 + .06 NFDS

100% conversion of GLUCOSE

NFDS

PROTSOL

molar extent 3.31 lbmol/hr

at 25 mmgal/yr

Saccharification and fermentation reactors are simplified to continuous

operations. Conversions and molar extents are adjustable parameters in the
model. No attempt has been made to model the action of enzymes and yeast
in the reactors.

5 Chemical Reactions

6 Simulation Approach

Unit Operations - Major unit operations have been represented by Aspen

Plus models as in the table below.

Aspen Plus Unit Operation Models Used in the Bioethanol

from Corn Model
Unit Operation

Aspen Plus model

Comments / Specifications

Saccharification and
Fermentation

RStoic

Simplified simulation with stoichiometric

reactions

Distillation / Scrubber

RadFrac

Rigorous multi-stage distillation model.

Beer Column with 9 theoretical stages
Rectifier with 18 theoretical stages

Dehydration

Sep

Simplified separation block, not a true

separation block based on adsorption

Dewatering

SSplit

Simplified separation block, not a true

separation block based on centrifugation

Heaters/Coolers

Heater

Simplified heater model.

DDGS Drying

Flash2

Flash calculation; calculates heat load

required to achieve desired moisture.

Evaporation

Flash2

Flash calculation; calculates heat load

required to achieve desired vapor fraction.

Streams - Streams represent the material and energy flows in, out and
around the process. Streams can be of three types: Material, Heat, and
Work. Feeds to the process are corn, energy, water, acid, enzyme and yeast;
the later three are represented by NFDS, WATER and WATER components
respectively for simplicity. There are several internal streams that represent
the crossover of material and heat between blocks. A key internal stream is
59BS representing backset.
Design-Specs, Calculator Blocks and Convergence - The simulation is
augmented with a combination of flowsheeting capabilities such as
Convergence, Design Specs and Calculator Blocks.
Sequencing and Convergence paragraphs are included that produce a
relatively stable model at varied rates. The model has been tested at
production capacities as low as 15 mmgal/yr and as high as 180 mmgal/yr
and has run successfully aided by these convergence elements.
The following tables outline key flowsheeting capabilities of this model:

6 Simulation Approach

Design Specs Used in the Corn to Ethanol Model

Spec Name

Spec (Target)

Manipulated Variable

DDGS

Dry DDGS to 9% moisture

DRYDDGS pressure to
calculate-heat duty

FERM

gm ethanol/LT in Beer to 12%

SPLITPC flow-split. process

water export

PREVAP

pct solids in feed to centrifuge

PRE-EVAP vapor fraction

SYRUP

Concentrate evap6 liquid to 55%

solids

EVAP6 vapor fraction

WG

"Wet Grains are 35% solids" out of

centrifuge

Stream 55TS flow

WWTR

Close water balance to 100 kg/hr

(strm EXTRAPC) excess

Adding scrubber water;

87WATER flow to SCRUBBER

Flowsheet Calculators Used in the Corn to Ethanol Model

Name

Purpose

BACKSET

Backset is 15% of final mash volume

DISSOLVE

Calculates starch heat of solution

EVALUATE

Compare key process results at different production rates. Use in

conjunction with Calculator SCALE. Uses Excel spreadsheet.

SCALE

Scale production (up or down) to a new capacity. Adjusts all feeds

and Tear Streams based on new capacity. Use in conjunction with
Calculator EVALUATE. Uses Excel spreadsheet.

YEAST

Set extent for reaction No. 2 in FERMENT block (see Section 4.

Reactions above) as a function of mass flow, glucose content and
density of mash feed to Fermenter (Stream 23MASH)

Calculator blocks SCALE and EVALUATE are Spreadsheets in Excel, and are
both embedded in the file with extension .apmbd. Use SCALE to change the
characteristics of the corn feed as follows:
150

Plant Capacity, MM Gallons per Year

0.15

Moisture in Corn

0.7

Starch in Corn

Calculator block EVALUATE may be easily modified to add more comparison

variables that are of interest.

6 Simulation Approach

7 Simulation Results

The Aspen Plus simulation flowsheet and key results are shown below:

Key Simulation Results

Result

Units

Plant capacity (pure ethanol)

100

MM
gal/yr

Corn feed (total wet)

249278

lb/hr

Corn moisture (fixed)

15%

Corn starch

70%

Enzyme flow

63

Yeast flow

5.2

lb/hr

Acid flow

124

lb/hr

Water make-up to SCRUBBER

18019

lb/hr

Plant near-zero-net water discharge

100

lb/hr

Fermenter ETOH Conc, gm/LT

120

gm/ltr

Backset

15.0%

Steam cost (6 $/MMBtu)

2845

$/hr

Steam cost (7920 hr/yr)

2.25E+07

$/yr

7 Simulation Results

lb/hr

Result

10

Units

Beer column diameter (0.62 fract. approach to flooding)

14.1

ft

Rectifier diameter (0.75 top fract. approach to flooding, 0.5

bottom)

13.4

ft

Fermentation Efficiency (Glucose to ETOH conv.)

100.0%

Starch Efficiency

99.0%

7 Simulation Results

8 Conclusions

The bioethanol from corn model provides a useful description of the process.
The simulation has been developed using many of the capabilities of Aspen
Plus including unit operation models, physical property methods, models and
data, and flowsheeting capabilities like convergence design specs.
The model may be used as a guide for understanding the process and the
economics, and also as a starting point for more sophisticated models for
plant design and specifying process equipment.

8 Conclusions

11