Alternatives for the Purification of the Blend Butanol/Ethanol from an Acetone/Butanol/Ethanol Fermentation Effluent

Biobutanol is a biofuel with potential to substitute gasoline. It can be generated through fermentation of lignocellulosic material, by which acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) are obtained and subsequently separated. Nevertheless, the blend ethanol/butanol itself is a fuel, so its separation could be not even necessary. An alternative is proposed to simplify the purification step of the ABE mixture, avoiding the separation of the ethanol/butanol blend. Intensification alternatives are suggested for the resulting structure. The proposed schemes are optimized through a stochastic approach, minimizing the total annual cost and the eco‐indicator 99. The individual risk index is computed for selected designs. The suggested designs reduce the individual risk index by around 30–66 %.