Process for providing ethanol

摘要

The invention is a process for the purification of ethanol. In one embodiment the process comprises boiling a degassed beer feed ( 106 ) in a pre-boiler ( 110 ) to provide a vapor by-pass fraction ( 112 ) that by-passes the conventional beer column and is fed into the rectifier column ( 124 ). The process allows free capacity in the rectifier column of new or established plants to be filled by ethanol-water vapor and/or condensate streams that do not originate from the beer column.