CO₂ Recovery: Upgrading Quality and Efficiency

By J.M.H. Sloesen Haffmans B.V., Venlo, Holland. This poster was originally presented at the MBAA 112th Anniversary Convention, Keystone, Colorado, 1999.

Abstract
Technological developments concerning the CO₂ recovery in breweries are superceding each other very rapidly nowadays. The applied technology of a CO₂ recovery plant is often out-of-date before the plant has been financially amortized. Requirements regarding quality of the CO₂ produced are becoming more stringent, as are the quantity requirements. In addition to the demands of the brewery, and especially in the United States, environmental laws are becoming increasingly strict, even approaching "zero-emission". For these reasons practical technologies have been developed by which existing CO₂ recovery plants can be upgraded to the state-of-the-art, making it possible to satisfy the higher requirements both in terms of quality and quantity of the CO₂ produced. This poster presents a case study demonstrating the successful upgrading of an existing CO₂ recovery plant in which all of these more demanding requirements were met. The plant is able to start CO₂ recovery at 95% v/v inlet purity from the fermenter. A further advantage is the increase in puri- ty of the recovered CO₂, to less than 5 ppm v/v O₂. Both H₂S and DMS levels are down to below 30 ppb w/w.
Keywords: CO₂, Recovery, CO₂ Recovery Plants  

Sintesis
Los desarrollos tecnologicos en lo que respecta a la recuperation del CO₂ en las cervecerias hoy en dia se superan unos a otros rapi- damente, La tecnologia aplicada en una planta de recuperacidn de CO₂ es anticuada antes que la planta ha sido amortizada financiera- mente. Los requerimientos en lo que respecta a la calidad del CO₂ producido se estan poniendo mas exigentes, asi coma lo requerim- ientos de cantidad. Ademas de las demandas de la cerveceria, y espe- cialmente en los Estados Unidos, las leyes ambientales se estan poniendo mas estrictas, alcanzando a veces la "emision cero". Por estas razones se han desarrollado tecnologias practicas mediante las cuales las plantas de recuperaci6n de CO₂ existentes puedan ser mejoradas, hacienda posible el satisfacer los requerimientos mas altos tanto en t&minos de calidad coma cantidad del CO₂ producido. Este cartel presenta un estudio de un case que demuestra la conver- sion exitosa de una planta de recuperation de CO₂ existente en la cual todos estos requerimientos mas exigentes fueron satisfechos. La planta es capaz de empezar la recuperation de CO₂ al 95% v/v de pureza de entrada del fermentador. Una ventaja mas es el aumento en la pureza del CO₂ recuperado, a menos de 5 ppm v/v 02. Los niveles de ambos H2 Sy DMS estan por debajo de 30 ppb w/w.