Recircanol: Design of circular processes

Recircanol: Circular recovery of ethanol from alkaline ethanol media at high pH using membrane technology

Other people involved: Gerrald Bargeman (promotor), Sander Haase (co-promotor), Paco Caparros (company supervisor from Greencovery)
Duration: 2025-2027
Funding: TKI E&I for the consortium formed by UTwente, Greencovery, Nobian, Solsep, Pervatech and ISPT (project reference: TKI2023 Recircanol)

Introduction

Processes that involve the use of alcohols as (anti)solvents and the application of pH switches to recover and purify (functional) ingredients of food side streams have been developed. The recovery of (anti)solvents using e.g. distillation requires significant amounts of energy, though. Membrane technology could be an alternative separation technology to make the food, biotech, and chemical industry more circular, flexible and energy-efficient.

Key words

Nanofiltration, Upcycling, Ethanol, Alkaline

Technological challenges

Generate new of scientific and technological knowledge on pH-stable and solvent-resistant nanofiltration membranes for use at alkaline conditions.

Design assignment

Design, using pH-stable nanofiltration membranes and membrane pervaporation, membrane-based separation processes for the recovery and purification of ethanol from alkaline-ethanol media containing peptides, amino acids and salts at high pH, and evaluate the techno-economic feasibility of these processes.