PEMEKATAN ETANOL DENGAN METODE STRIPPING MENGGUNAKAN GAS NITROGEN DAN UDARA

Abstract

Nowadays, the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel in Indonesia is less attractive than fossil fuel because its price is relatively high due to the high cost of purification process. While the fuel grade ethanol must have a very high purity. That’s why another low costed way to purify ethanol is needed, in this research we used stripping method. The focus of this research are the optimum conditions such as the type of stripping gas, stripping gas flow rate, and the type of packing material. The research was conducted with a packed stripper. The variables used in this research is the type of stripping gas (nitrogen and air), stripping gas flow rate (air : 67,5 ml/s; 90 ml/s; 112,5 ml/s and nitrogen: 61,16 ml/s; 70,02 ml/s; 92,87ml/s), the type of packing materials (ball packing with average diameter of 1,5 cm and a 5/12 inch  diameter raschig ring; average length of 1,5 cm), while the ethanol flow rate of 29,14 ml/s and 48 cm packing height are not changed during the process. The optimum result shown in the nitrogen gas flow rate of 77,02 ml/s with packing materials raschig ring, for 85,31%.