CO2 Recovery – Brewery Fermentation

CO2 Recovery – Brewery Fermentation

• The most up-to-date, advanced technology provides the ultimate impurity removal and collection efficiency.
• Low operating costs are achieved by utilizing new and proven technologies in the area of purification, compression and liquefaction.
• System can be designed to recover CO2 from sources with as high as 99.9% inlet purity to as low as 80%.
• Yields CO2 with a purity as high as 99.998% when incorporating the liquid CO2 purification system. Completely automatic operation provides for minimal operator intervention and capacity control.
• System design, material selection and manufacturing technique provide for easy and reduced maintenance requirements and cost.
• High CO2 recovery and efficiency yields more CO2 product, which can then be utilized to enhance product quality or may be sold for increased revenues.

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

The system is designed to recover CO2 from various fermentation sources. The processes for CO2 recovery from the sources are essentially the same other than the amount and type of purification that is employed. A brief outline of the process, along with process flow diagram, is presented below.

• Foam Trap (Separator) –to remove occasional foam carryover from fermentation.
• CO2 Booster Compressor – maintains fermenter pressure and provides positive pressure for purification and compression.
• CO2 Scrubber – provides bulk removal of water-soluble impurities (such as alcohols, ketones, etc.) in an efficient manner using potable water as the scrubbing medium (minimal water consumption).
• CO2 Compressor – elevates the CO2 gas pressure to allow for efficient purification, dehydration and liquefaction.
• CO2 Aftercooler/Precooler – reduces the gas temperature to condense and remove a significant amount of water contained in the gas. This maximizes downstream equipment performance and efficiency.
• CO2 Deodorizer/Dryer – provides final trace removal of impurities (such as organic and sulfur compounds) and water vapor (moisture).
• CO2 Liquefaction / Stripping System – converts the CO2 gas to a liquid form by use of refrigeration (i.e.: R 404A, NH3, etc.). This allows for convenient storage of the liquid CO2 product and provides for additional purification of the CO2 by the partial removal of non-condensable gases (i.e.: O2 and N2) via stripping technology. This technology is designed to provide a guaranteed liquid CO2 purity with regard to non-condensable levels(e.g.: < 5 ppmv O2). It can also allow for earlier collection from fermentation, which increases the quantity of CO2 recovered.
• Liquid CO2 Storage Tank – receives and stores the liquid CO2 for reuse or resale.

PCPL also supplies liquid CO2 vaporizers, cylinder filling units, portable liquid CO2 tanks, liquid and vapor CO2 flow meters and dry ice production equipment, If interested in any of these items, please contact us.