SuperPro Modeling

1. Shirin Udwadia
Lauren Todd
Sophia Della Rocca
BE 4380
Processes and Unit
Operations of
Vinegar Making

2. Introduction
● Vinegar making is defined as the two step process of
fermentation from a carbohydrate to an alcohol to an
acetic acid.
● Vinegar is produced by yeast and AAB fermentation
○ converting sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide
○ converting ethanol to acetic acid
● Industry Norms
○ Specific fruit such as grapes grown for the purpose
of creating vinegar

3. Introduction
● Recognition of Problem/Need
○ Utilization of damaged/aesthetically displeasing fruit
○ Utilization of excess fruit
○ Increase in profit, decrease in waste
● Definition of Problem/Need
○ Sugars from peaches need to be converted into
ethanol and carbon dioxide with fermentation via
yeast
○ Ethanol needs to be converted to acetic acid via
AAB
○ Excess pulp needs to be disposed of through
sustainable methods

4. ● Create a system of
operations in series
Project GOALS
Bioprocess
(biological)
● Yeast is utilized to convert sugar to
ethanol and carbon dioxide
● AAB is utilized to convert ethanol into
acetic acid
Structural Mechanical
● Mechanically press peaches to release
more juice
● Assume peaches are already crushed
in design

5. ● Skills
○ Knowledge of SuperPro
○ Modeling of vinegar making process
○ Kinetics
○ Microbiology
● Budgetary
○ No materials were needed
● Space
○ Lab not required
● Logistics
○ Time to ferment the peaches through two different
inoculations
○ Unit operations cannot run in parallel
○ Machine operators to monitor reactor
Constraints

6. ● Safety
○ Live cultures of yeast and bacteria can endanger those with
immunodeficiencies
● Ethical
○ Vinegar can affect those who have digestive
problems,gastrointestinal inflammatory conditions, or diabetes
● Ecological
○ Excess pulp should be composted
○ Excess pulp can be used as animal feed
○ Peaches should be grown in local native climates
● Ultimate Use
○ Long shelf life
○ Promotes culinary exploration
○ Profit to local community
Considerations

7. Questions
● User-consumer
○ How much does the bottle of vinegar cost
○ What type of peach is it (mix, white, yellow, nectarines)
○ What is the pH
● Client- Peach Farm
○ How soon can a good design be realized
○ How long will it take to assemble the system?
○ How much will the system cost
● Designer- Bioprocess Engineer
○ What is the budget for the system?
○ How soon is the design needed
○ Who are the intended users of the system

8. Literature Review
● Traditional Fermenters
○ Batch Reactor
● Temperature of fermentor
○ 30℃ based on past publication for mango and papaya vinegar left vials to
ferment in a room temperature 25℃-30℃
● Microorganisms
○ Yeast and AAB develop in phases
○ Growth, Stationary
● Multi-Stage Fermentation
○ 2-4 reactors in a series

9. Literature Review
● “Acetic acid fermentation belongs to aerobic fermentation and acetic acid bacteria are
especially sensitive to oxygen. Only when oxygen is abundant, can vigorous
physiological activities be carried out. “ - Pineapple Bran Research
○ This is why we added oxygen to our acetic acid fermentor
● Other Aspects
○ Food industry, Quality, Health,

10. Literature Review
This study helped shape our implementation and how we organized our
processes

12. Literature Review
Mass Balance for both alcohol and vinegar production
General Equation for first fermentation:
General Equation for second fermentation:
1000 C6H12O6 + 118 NH3 → 6 C100H174O45N20 + 1300 C2H5OH + 1540 CO2 + 430 C3H8O3 + 36 H2O
6 C2H5OH + 2 NH3 + 7 O2 → 2 C5H7O2N + CH3OOH + CO2 + 12 H2O
Energy Balance for A Fermentor Unit operation

13. hard Data
● Initial Glucose Concentration
○ Peaches have an average sugar concentration of 5.26 g/L
● Yeast Kinetic Parameters
○ maximum specific growth rate = 0.65 hr-1, decay rate = 0.028 hr-1,
saturation constant = 1 g/L
● Acetobacter Kinetic Parameters
○ maximum specific growth rate = 0.09 hr-1, decay rate = 0.01 hr-1,
saturation constant = 0.35 g/L

14. Past Experiences
All Team members have used
SuperPro models to build
fermentation processes
Program
● Taken Microbiology at Clemson
University and learned an overview of the
process of vinegar production
● All team members have hands on
experience with fermentation projects
such as Beer making
● Taken 4140- Biological Kinetics
Classes

15. Design Options
● Possible Unit Operations
○ Washing
○ Crushing Peaches
○ Fermentation Processes
○ Sterilization
○ Filtration of Vinegar
○ Composting of residue
from filtration

16. Synthesis of Design

17. Synthesis of Design

18. Synthesis of Design

19. Synthesis of Design

20. Synthesis of Design

21. Evaluation of Design

22. Evaluation of Design

23. Evaluation of Design
Time
● The annual operation time of
the design is 7.9 kh
○ about 21.6 h/day
● Batches per year 108
● Total yield of vinegar is about
20,059 kg/year
○ about 55 L/batch/day
○ combination of water and
acetic acid
● Standard bottle of vinegar is about
32 oz
○ each bottle costs $1.80 to
make
○ 58 bottles a day
Yield

24. Budget

25. Budget

26. Sustainable Measures
● Contributions to Sustainability
● Compost Peach skin, seeds, and
stems
● Create Pomace
○ second marketable product
○ potential oil production
● Sell Carbon Dioxide
○ soft drink companies
○ if not, then it is a greenhouse
gas
● Reuse water from distillation

27. Conclusions
● User Questions
○ A bottle of vinegar would be up-priced in order to offset initial costs
○ Vinegar would be mixed peaches
○ Ph could not be calculated without further metabolic information
● Client Questions
○ A good idea could be to further research
○ Assembly depends on size of peach farm
○ System costs approximately 21 million dollars to start up and 5.8 million to
maintain
● Designer Questions
○ Budget should be 25 million for the first year
○ Design is needed as soon as client decides on size of peach farm
○ Intended users of the vinegar making systems are trained employees

28. References
Mohamed A. Mehaia, Munir Cheryan,Fermentation of date extracts to ethanol and vinegar in batch and continuous membrane reactors,
Enzyme and Microbial Technology, Volume 13, Issue 3, 1991, Pages 257-261,
Hui Huang et al 2021 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 657 012038
Bouatenin, Koffi Maïzan, et al. “Organic Production of Vinegar from Mango and Papaya.” Food Science & Nutrition, vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2021,
pp. 190–196., doi:10.1002/fsn3.1981.
Mohamed A. Mehaia, Munir Cheryan, Fermentation of date extracts to ethanol and vinegar in batch and continuous membrane reactors,
Enzyme and Microbial Technology, Volume 13, Issue 3, 1991, Pages 257-261, ISSN 0141-0229,
Cirilli, Marco et al. “Sugars in peach fruit: a breeding perspective.” Horticulture research vol. 3 15067. 20 Jan. 2016,
doi:10.1038/hortres.2015.67
Bhat, Suman Vikas, et al. “Http://Ljournal.ru/Wp-Content/Uploads/2017/03/a-2017-023.Pdf.” An Overview on the Biological Production of
Vinegar, vol. 3, no. 2, Dec. 2014, doi:10.18411/a-2017-023.
De Ory, I., et al. “Modelling the Kinetics of Growth of Acetobacter Aceti in Discontinuous Culture: Influence of the Temperature of Operation.”
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, vol. 49, no. 2, 1998, pp. 189–193., doi:10.1007/s002530051157.
Shanglang, Che, et al. A Yellow Peach and Carrot Compound Fruit Vinegar and Its Preparation Method. 18 Feb. 2021.
Guangpeng, Liu, et al. Novel Method for Producing High-Quality Apple Vinegar through Mixed Fermentation of Acetobacter Pasteurianus
and Lactobacillus Acidophilus. 8 Dec. 2020.
Huang, Hui, et al. “Research on Comprehensive Utilization and Fruit Vinegar Fermentation Technology of Pineapple Bran.” IOP Conference