Study and optimization of the distillation process at Aquavite SpA

This thesis is about a study conducting during an internship period at Acquavite S.p.A., a grappa production establishment located in Visnà di Vazzola. Firstly, a brief introduction about grappa is given, followed by a description of Acquavite S.p.A.’s story and their current production plant. Next, the internship’s topics are discussed: The quantities of the components in each stream are calculated in order to evaluate the efficiency of the distillation columns available at the plant and the energy duties of the reboilers, the condensers and the heat exchangers. Lastly, two possible improvements to the distillation train are discussed: the use of a partial condenser in order to increase the energy efficiency of the plant by reducing the used utilities, and the design of a column to recover ethanol from the wastes stream.