Greetings

[KalleMP]

Hi folks,

I don't drink alcohol beyond an occasional glass of Sima in season. However I do have an interest in small scale bio-ethanol for self sufficiency and an as such the distillation technology is of interest to me. I have read these forums when an internet search directs me here now and then.

Living in Finland possession of distillation apparatus is legal but any unlicensed distillation of alcoholic beverages or spirits is not. One can apparently hobby distil in Estonia but setting that up seems like a lot of effort even for a regular drinker.

There is a potential legal loophole for research purposes but I do not know if a private person can or has ever tried to use that. I speculate that with some connection to an academic institution one could perhaps get the required permitting but it would probably have lots of hoops to jump through. I may one day make the attempts for the purposes of researching small scale bio-ethanol production but just working from my keyboard at this time.

However the reason I registered is that I found an comprehensive paper describing a concentric still with split stripping and rectification sections. It suggested much better energy efficiency. It was done with the goal of reaching high proof bio-ethanol and the pilot plant was many meters tall perhaps 500/600mm diameter.

I thought it might interest some people here who like the technical aspects of distillation so I registered and will leave the link here. If someone else thinks there is a suitable board for such discussion they could copy the link and start a thread if they want.

ia800507 . us . archive . org/18/items/ACER048304857/ACER048_3_0_48_57.pdf
https://ia800507.us.archive.org/18/item ... _48_57.pdf

I forgot that I had another tab open with an interesting paper comparing packing materials. The data is for chemicals other than ethanol but might be of relevance to someone.

https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA381969

Which is the most appropriate board for discussing fringe technical topics?

There was a simple still discussed on one page linked below that I thought a bit 'odd', as did many others, because of the central cooling giving rise to an uncommon temperature gradient. However yesterday I saw a short letter in a old journal or a patent or something (that I can not find again) that described a suspiciously similar technique and showed the temperature gradient from the outside to the inside of the packed column with the usual counter current vapour/liquid reflux flow taking up most of the packing space but a lower temperature 'deflegmator' role of the central cooling tube. I thought it was interesting that many things are rediscovered because they were not common knowledge. Sometimes I suppose they are forgotten because better solutions are available.

viewtopic.php?t=74722

Thank you for your indulgence and keep refluxing

Kalle
--
Helsinki, Finland

[Bradster68]

Welcome and . Your in the right place for learning anything about distillation