Patent ID: 7867365

Claim:
A method for producing substantially anhydrous ethanol comprising: (a) distilling a stream feed of beer liquor in a stripping column to produce a first concentrated ethanol overhead vapor, wherein said stripping column has a top portion and a bottom portion; (b) condensing said first concentrated ethanol overhead vapor to form a first ethanol and water mixture; (c) distilling said first ethanol and water mixture in a rectifying column, which rectifying column is heated by a primary steam supply and which rectifying column has a top portion and a bottom portion, to produce a second concentrated ethanol overhead vapor, a portion of which is product vapor and a portion of which is reflux vapor; (d) condensing said reflux vapor in a reboiler system to form condensed reflux; (e) returning said condensed reflux to the top portion of the rectifying column; (f) recovering heat from step (d); (g) heating said stripping column with the heat recovered in step (f); (h) dehydrating said product vapor using a molecular sieve dehydration means to produce substantially anhydrous ethanol; (i) recovering heat from step (h); and (j) further heating said stripping column with the heat recovered in step (i).