Bio-based succinic acid recovery by ion exchange resins integrated with nanofiltration/reverse osmosis preceded crystallization

Succinic acid is a key platform chemical for production of various products such as biodegradable polymers, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and foods. In the present study, bio-based succinic acid was recovered through two processes. Process I consisted of chro-matographic separation with anionic exchange resin followed by direct crystallization, whereas process II sequentially consisted of cationic exchanger, activated carbon, NF/RO membrane, vacuum distillation, and crystallization. The highest chromatographic separa-tion efficiency for succinic acid by Amberlite IRA900 Cl column was calculated as 69.3% at flow rate of 0.42 BV/h. Rejection of succinic aid (SA), lactic acid (LA), formic acid (FA) and acetic acid (AC) by NF90 membrane was 53.1, 51.8, 46.6 and 39.8%, respectively at pH less than 2. However, at pH 6.8 the respective rejections increased to 96.8, 90.6, 71.3 and 70.5%. Double pass with BW30 or HP reverse osmosis membranes achieved retention of SA, LA, FA and AC of 95.9%, 95.8%, 65.4% and 46.9%, respectively. Analysis of generated SA crystals by X-ray diffraction technique (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) showed the crys-tallinity of recovered SA as conformable to standard grade crytsals. The purity of generated succinic acid crystals was recorded as 98.5% and 96.7% for process I and process II, respec-tively. The calculated succinic acid yield was 78% for process I and 65% for process II. Herein, we demonstrated two alternative systems for bio-based succinic acid recovery, which will set a stage for research in efficient downstream purification of SA. (c) 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, two alternative systems for the recovery of bio-based succinic acid were demonstrated, with efficiency achieved through chromatographic separation and membrane separation technologies. High purity succinic acid crystals were successfully obtained, setting a stage for efficient downstream purification of succinic acid in further research.