team photo

Figure 1
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Figure 2
project photo

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Team 2

Team Members

Faculty Advisor

Daniel Cramer
Samuel Gonski
Dejvi Masllavica
Daniyal Zaheer

Douglas Cooper

Sponsor

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

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Micro-breweries and distilleries have become one of the fastest growing business trends of the past decade. The goal of this project is to use our knowledge of chemical engineering principles, mainly fermentation and distillation, to develop a micro-distillery process around whiskey production. The idea behind this design is to create a destination for whiskey consumers to come to our facility and enjoy high quality drinks, as well as take home their favorite bottle of whiskey. We have designed our fermentation and distillation process to use barley, which is of our own supply and grown on an on-site farm, along with water, to produce 120 proof whiskey. The fermentation process takes a total of five days. Because of this, we have designed five fermenters in parallel, so the process can be run non-stop. As far as safety is concerned, each unit operation has the proper sensors and controllers. When it comes to hazards, since methanol is produced, it will be burned to create carbon dioxide and water. An in-depth economic analysis has also been done to find out how long it would take to turn a profit, as well as have a positive return of investment. Hypothetically, if this design were to be implemented in a real-life business the way we have constructed it, our distillery will stimulate the local economy by providing jobs and drawing new customers into the area.