Accordingly to World Energy Outlook 2014, energy's global demand is expected to increase by 37% by 2040. Considering this information, energy efficiency is going to play an increasing role.
Spirit production industry sector is a major energy consumer in multiple countries, including Brazil, India, Africa and other emerging economies. Achieving energy consumption reduction at spirit distillation facilities can lead to saving huge amount of electricity. This can be achieved through energy efficiency projects and energy management.
It is important not only to design energy efficient hardware for a plant, but to operate it in cost efficient way. For example, let’s consider a simple lab column and distill same amount of spirit using two different automation algorithms. For the first algorithm let’s use feedback controller to manipulate column heat by top column temperature. For the second algorithm let’s build two control circuits: Cooler = f(top temp) and power = f(bottom temp)
For the test let's use 1 dal of 10% binary ethanol-water mixture. Expected result is 0,16 dal of 60% ABV mixture. Please note, that distillation is stopped at bottom temperature 97C.
Comparison table shows that second algorithm is 15% slower than the first. However it saves up to 40% energy. Another advantage of the second algorithm is linear heating control, which results in spirit with less impurities. Nevertheless, the second algorithm has its disadvantages: implementation complicity, increased number of sensors, it careful tuning to each specific production system. Also, its efficiency can slightly vary depending on the plant hardware and batch size. Kettlebell distillation suite features distillation algorithm change on the go. Operator can switch between distillation control schemes during the distillation process. This allows to achieve expected product's qualities, and save energy. To succeed, a modern distillation facility requires not only high quality inputs, carefully built hardware, but also well tailored software to run the facility in the most efficient way and accordingly to your custom needs.