Economic evaluation of preconcentration in production of ethanol from dilute sugar solutions
The economic feasibility of preconcentrating dilute sugar solutions prior to fermentation is investigated. Two methods, evaporation and reverse osmosis, are compared. A computer program to determine the optimal preconcentration conditions for glucose solutions of 1.5–16 wt% has been developed. It was used to compute the fractional cost for labor and maintenance, preconcentration, fermentation, and