Lidia Moharic

Background

About Lidia Moharic

I am very motivated and I enjoy working in new, challenging environments. My desire is to contribute to the development and research of new products and technologies. Having a solid educational foundation and a passion for professional growth, I am very enthusiastic about working in a professional environment. The aim of my Master Thesis was to investigate the application of higher alcohols characterized by high boiling points (i.e. pentan-1-ol, octan-1-ol, nonan-1-ol and oleyl alcohol) as extraction solvents for the ethanol extraction from broth, fermented in the integrated bioreactor system. The goal was the development of the ecologically, energetically and financially more efficient process than conventional multi-stage distillation. Applied extractants were tested for its toxicity on the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast culture. The behaviors of two-component systems (extractant-water) and three-component mixtures (extractant-water-ethanol) were investigated toward the efficiency of separation of organic phase (extract) and the water phase (rafinate). Binodal curves were constructed for systems: pentan-1-ol / water / ethanol, octan-1-ol / water / ethanol, nonan-1-ol / water / ethanol and oleyl alcohol / water / ethanol. Binodal diagrams were used for the calculations of required solvent amounts for the ethanol extraction in the three-stage extraction system. The plants for ethanol production based on extractions with higher alcohols were proposed.