Lebanon produces approximately 320,000 tons of apple per year however 40% are going to

waste and being thrown. The annual waste of apple is 128,000 tons/year. Every 2.5 kg of apples
is being pressed will produce 1 Liter of apple juice. (ρapple-juice=1048 kg/m3).1 Liter of apple juice
is equivalent to 1.048 kg of apple juice. So 128,000 tons/year waste of apple give 1029.04 tons
of apple juice per week which should be our inlet. [12]

It should be noted that for the two fermentations a batch reactor will be used for the simulation
on Aspen Hysis. A solid separator is used to separate yeast and ethanol. Yeast is recycled
through the inlet. CO2 washer helps recycle traces of ethanol exiting with the CO 2 for
economical purpose. After the second fermentation acetic acid and water should be filtered and
pasteurized to be stored in bottles.

Figure 1 Block flow diagram for vinegar process.

The Alcoholic reaction is:

C6H12O6 (glucose)―› 2C2H5OH(Ethyl Alcohol) + 2CO2 + Energy

Is is operated in a batch reactor and takes about 48-72 hours maintained at 30°C and 1 atm. The
yeast used to achieve the higher conversion is Saccharomyces, which ferment glucose to ethanol.

The acetic fermentation reaction:

 2C2H5OH (Ethyl Alcohol)+O2 ―› CH3COOH(Acetic Acid) + H2O + Energy

This fermentation will take place in a batch reactor so we will use a temperature of 30 °C and 1
atm. This reaction will take 35 hours. The major components of cider vinegar are water and
acetic acid. The difference in the type of apples affect the percentage of the composition of apple
vinegar. The yeast used for this fermentation is Acetobacter bacteria.

Table 1: Composition of feed apple juice [13]

Components Units Range Mass fraction

Water (g/100mL) 86.8 0.868
Sucrose (g/100 mL) 2.16 0.0216
Glucose (g/100 mL) 2.18 0.0218
Fructose (g/100 mL) 5.69 0.0569
Sorbitol (g/100 mL) 1.1 0.011
Quinic (mg/100 mL) 152.0 0.00152
Malic (mg/100 mL) 1544.9 0.0154
Isocitric (mg/100 mL) 24.8 0.0004
Citric (mg/100 mL) 266 0.0026

Table 2: Composition of cider vinegar[7]