ROI (Return On Investment) Ethanol Drying:
A plant drying 100,000 tonnes per annum from the azeotrope to 99.8% purity using ZSL technology will pay for itself within 6 months in Europe and within 18 months in the
USA based on energy costs associated in each territory.
ZSL's technology has many advantages over Azeotropic Distillation (AD) and Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) techniques:
Azeotropic Distillation
PSA / Mol Sieves
Zeolite Membranes
Medium CAPEX
High CAPEX
Medium CAPEX
High OPEX
High OPEX
Low OPEX
High installation costs
High installation costs
Low installation costs
High Maintenance costs
High Maintenance costs
Low Maintenance costs
Large Footprint
Large Footprint
Compact
Tall
Tall
Compact
Chemicals, wastes, complex controls
Regeneration, By-products
Low intervention
E.G. In drying 100,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of ethanol from the azeotrope to 99.8% :
PSA
Zeolite Membranes
CAPEX
£1.75M ($2.85M)
£1.40M ($2.28M)
OPEX
£9.8M ($15.97M)
£6.63M ($10.8M)
Cost pre Litre
(dehydration only)
£0.078 ($0.127)
£0.053 ($0.086)
The ZSL technology has advantages over other similar existing and emerging technologies such as organic/polymeric membranes, which have poorer selectivity (leading to problems with contaminated waste streams) and much lower product through-put.
The properties of ZSL's Zeolite Membrane are unique:
