Negros, the country's sugar industry's hub, is home to its 10-hectare factory. The Pulupandan plant gradually increased its daily output from 18,000 liters of alcohol per day (LPD) in 1974 to 36,000 LPD in 1975 and 55,000 LPD in 1977. On the other hand, the Cebu plant's initial capacity was 15,000 LPD and it was increased to 55,000 LPD in 1976. The capacity of the Pulupandan and Cebu factories together in 1978 was 110,000 liters of alcohol per day. A modern wastewater treatment plant that uses distillery waste to generate biogas for the plant's energy needs coexists with aging facilities. It is capable of producing 210 000 liters of high-quality ethyl alcohol on a daily basis. The distillation method for Asian alcohol involves molasses, yeast, water, and other components.
For the manufacturing process, specifically for the process description, AAC provided a detailed operating procedure including the equipment and its capacity:
Alcohol Manufacturing Process
Potable Alcohol Manufacturing Process
Asian Alcohol Corporation (AAC) Products
Asian Alcohol Corporation (AAC) By-Products
Auxiliary Facilities: Water Conditioning
Auxiliary Facilities: Steam Generation
Auxiliary Facilities: Power Generation
Auxiliary Facilities: Pollution Control
Auxiliary Facilities: Storage Facilities
Bioethanol Production Facilities
The existing AAC Alcohol Distillery Plant that produces the hydrous ethanol to be fed to the dehydration facilities for the production of anhydrous alcohol consistent with bioethanol standard for motive power will not change the existing technology involving:
The three (3) Columns Set Multi-Pressure Distillation is primarily for potable alcohol. The 1st column is the stripping column, for the alcohol that was produced during the fermentation process which will then be recovered by the stripping process, then the condensation will occur. Once the condensation occurs, this will proceed to the 2nd column, the aldehyde column to remove the acetaldehyde content which will then proceed to the last column, where the rectifying process will happen.
The Dehydration Section to be established will utilize a classical Twin Bed Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) based Molecular Sieve Dehydrator, which removes water from hydrous alcohol from the Distillation Section. Molecular sieves are synthetic/naturally occurring Alumino Silicates which allow Alcohol Vapour to escape retaining water molecules. This principle is used in the design of Molecular Sieve Dehydration Plants.
The total operational production capacity will be 180,000 LPD consisting of the following:
100,000 LPD Fuel Grade Bioethanol at 99.7% v/v ethanol
80,000 LPD Potable Ethanol at 94.5% v/v ethanol
The Department of Energy (DOE) required the Fuel Grade of Bioethanol at 99.3%, but ACC ensures the contingency of moisture by creating an allowance of 99.7% since, during the transportation, possible moisture can be produced.
The AAC plants operate 24 hrs a day, a total of 345 days annually. The plant cannot operate nonstop, a shutdown period for repair maintenance of the plant is required and estimated for at least 15 days per year. In addition, the calculated maximum annual production of ACC is estimated to be at 30,000,000 L of Bioethanol and 24,000,000 L of Potable Alcohol.
Potable Alcohol Manufacturing Process
The fermentation vat is for the production of alcohol whereas the three (3) cultivators, mainly the big, medium, and small cultivators are for the cultivation of the aerobic process for the yeast production.
Asian Alcohol Corporation (AAC) Products
For the quality classification, Quality A and B were set and given standard to AAC by Tanduay. The Potassium Permanganate Test (PTT) is done in the laboratory and was given by time, for the potable alcohol product it occurred at least 25 - 45 minutes.
Proof is defined as divided by 2 to determine the concentration based on percent volume. For the aged alcohol having a 65 - 70 proof then the concentration is 35% alcohol v/v.
Asian Alcohol Corporation (AAC) By-Products
Carbon dioxide is considered a clean gas and is a by-product of the fermentation of molasses. Carbon dioxide is one of the components needed by soft drinks companies since they utilized this as one of the requirements needed for the production of their product.
Fusel oil is the by-product of the process of distillation columns during fermentation wherein it developed many side reactions, and the production of fusel oil is one of this mentioned reactions.
Auxiliary Facilities
Water Conditioning
Steam Generation
Power Generation
In power generation, there was a steam turbine with two (2) main parts: turbine and generator. The turbine is where the steam passes, then the turbines drive the generator to produce the electricity. This section was under the jurisdiction of the electrical department.
Pollution Control
Storage Facilities
In distillery plant, numerous storage tanks are required since sugar production are seasonal. Additionally, the production capacity depends on the demands, ACC invests in numerous amount of storage tanks for utilizing the non-stop production of molasses.
Bioethanol Production
For bioethanol production, AAC provided a video wherein they discussed the brief detailed process. Alcohol production consists of two (2) major processes: fermentation and distillation. The Asian Alcohol bioethanol plant is responsible for the production of anhydrous ethanol which then is blended with gasoline. The process includes distillation and dehydration, the plant is subdivided into two plants which are Plant “A” and Plant “B.” Plant A is for multi-pressure distillation which functions to recover the ethanol from the fermentation section and concentrate it in the maximum possible concentration of 94.5% v/v. Plant B is for the removal of 5.5% remaining water via the process of molecular sieve dehydration. The anaerobic digesters are designed to biodegrade organic matter to produce biogas for boiler fuel, steam generated by the boiler will be used to run the turbine for power generation.
