Removal of Color and Polyphenols from Sugarcane Molasses Ethanol Vinasse by Hydrodynamic Cavitation

Castillo Bocanegra K.E.; Vásquez Llanos S.A.; Mesia Chuquizuta J.C.; Barturen Quispe A.P.; Purihuaman M.S.; Scheineder S.H.; Carreño-Farfan C.; Medina Collana J.T. · Chemical Engineering Transactions (2024) · DOI: 10.3303/cet24114187

Resumen

The hydrodynamic cavitation process using orifice plates was applied to remove color and polyphenols from sugarcane molasses ethanol vinasse, with a treatment time of 1 h. The raw vinasse was diluted with tap water in a volume ratio of 1:10 in an acidic medium (pH 2). A 2k factorial analysis was carried out to evaluate the effect of the inlet pressure of 2 and 3.6 bar. The results indicate that the interaction between the inlet pressure and the number of orifices has a significant effect on the color and polyphenol removal efficiency. The plate with 9 orifices under the condition of an inlet pressure of 3.6 bar was more efficient, achieving a maximum color removal of 32.71% and polyphenol removal of 88.62% during a 20 min treatment, with a cavitation yield of 0.00365 mg J-1. The requirement of a longer treatment time did not favor the removal efficiency of color and polyphenols. Hydrodynamic cavitation significantly improves the removal of color and polyphenols, being a viable alternative to reduce toxicity in alcoholic vinasse, contributing to environmental improvements for the alcohol industry. Copyright

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Pedro Ruiz Gallo; Universidad Nacional del Callao