Separation and concentration of lactic acid by electro-electrodialysis

Reactive extraction combined with a modified two-phase electro-electrodialysis (MTPEED) process shows a strong potential in the recovery and concentration of lactic acid without generating a salt waste. In this paper, an electro-electrodialysis (EED) process was designed with mixed lactic acid and sodium lactate aqueous solution as catholyte to simulate this MTPEED process. The immediate factors affecting the current efficiency, cell voltage and energy consumption were investigated. The optimization of operating conditions was also discussed. The lowest cell voltage was reached when the sodium lactate concentration was about 1.7 mol L⁻¹. The current efficiency was kept near 100% before lactic acid in the catholyte was exhausted. When the current density was 160.7 A m⁻², a representative specific energy consumption of the MTPEED process was 1.404 kWh/kg lactic acid, far lower than 2.961 kWh/kg lactic acid of a comparable EED process with sodium lactate aqueous solution as catholyte. The cell voltage of the MTPEED process was also affected by the phase ratio of the organic phase to the water phase. The lower phase ratio is preferred.     

Continuous Separation of an H2SO4/CuSO4 Mixture by Diffusion Dialysis

The separation of a mixture of sulfuric acid and copper sulfate is experimentally investigated in a two‐compartment countercurrent dialyzer at steady state using an anion‐exchange membrane. The dialysis process is characterized by the recovery yield of acid, the rejection coefficient of salt, and the permeability coefficient of the membrane. The simultaneous transport of sulfuric acid and copper sulfate is quantified by four phenomenological coefficients, which are dependent on the acid and salt concentrations in the feed. They are determined by a procedure consisting of (i) the numerical integration of the basic differential equations describing the concentration profiles of both components on both sides of the membrane and (ii) the optimizing method.     

Use of the electrodialysis process to concentrate a formic acid solution

Our previous work clearly showed that electro-eletrodialysis was an efficient way to concentrate a formic acid solution. Electro-electrodialysis can be easily scaled up as electrodialysis, but the equipment cost is higher. Accordingly, an electrolysis process with a new cation-exchange membrane was tested in this work. The effects of concentration, electric current density, and concentration difference between the concentrated side and the dilute side were studied. The experimental results indicated that electrodialysis was also an effective method to concentrate formic acid solution. For the high concentration system the overall current efficiency was larger than 100%. The overall current efficiency for a low concentration system would be up to 90%. But the concentrated ratio is not as much as desired, which is limited by the operating system and conditions. In general, the overall current efficiency was increased to a maximum value with an increase of the current density. After a certain value, the overall current efficiency would begin to drop. The increase of the initial concentration helped to increase the overall current efficiency, but led to a decrease in the concentrated ratio. The volume change of the concentrated solution is seriously affected by the current density and the ratio of the initial concentration in the concentrated compartment compared to that in the dilute compartment.     

Separation of strong acids by electrodialysis with membranes selective to monovalent ions. An approach to modelling the process

In this work some mixtures of sulphuric and nitric acids have been separated and concentrated by selective electro-dialysis (SED) using heterogeneous membranes. Selective membranes can now be used for the separation of acids since anion exchange membranes with reduced transport number to multivalent ions are commercially available. The electric performance of the system has been analyzed and a correlation between current density, hydrodynamic parameters and concentration was established. The modelling of the SED experiments can be achieved with a good fitting for various membrane configurations of industrial interest. Experimental results show that at operation times lower than 40 minutes, the selective anion exchange membranes efficiently exclude the sulphate anions. The nitrate anions fall to zero concentration at 60 minutes of operation and then the sulphate anions begin to cross through the membrane.     

膜分离环烷酸工艺研究

研究利用无机陶瓷膜分离精制环烷酸的工艺。考察了操作方式、膜孔径、温度及压力等条件对工艺的影响。     

用纳滤膜“浓缩”芦荟原汁的实验分析

本文分析了芦荟原汁采用纳滤膜分离成的“芦荟浓缩液”与“芦荟水”两个组分中各种成份含量比较 ,为膜分离法在芦荟原汁加工中的应用提供了理论依据。     

Electro-membrane reactor for separation and in situ ion substitution of glutamic acid from its sodium salt

An electro-membrane reactor with four compartments (EMR-4) (anolyte, catholyte and comp. 1 and 2) based on in-house-prepared cation- and anion-exchange membrane (CEM and AEM, respectively) was developed to achieve separation and recovery of glutamic acid (GAH) from its sodium salt by in situ ion substitution and acidification. The physicochemical and electrochemical properties of CEM and AEM were characterized and its suitability was assessed in operating environment. The separation of GA⁻ from the mixture of nonionic organic compounds and further ion substitution was achieved by EMR-4. But the higher energy consumption (5.75 kWh/kg of GAH produced), low current efficiency (50.5%) and recovery of GAH (57.2%) in this process were main obstacles for the industrial exploration of the process. Latter, electro-membrane reactor with three compartments (EMR-3) (anolyte, catholyte and central compartment) was developed based on CEMs for only in situ ion substitution of GANa to achieve GAH, in which GA⁻ was not allowed for electro-migration from its feed compartment. CE and recovery of GAH were close to 73% and 96% that indicate the suitability of the EMR-3 process for industrial application over the EMR-4. It was concluded that EMR-3 was efficient as compared to EMR-4 for separation and recovery of GAH from fermentation broth by in situ ion substitution in eco-friendly manner.     

Mineral carbonation accelerated by dicarboxylic acids as a disposal process of carbon dioxide

Mineral carbonation is based on the reaction of carbon dioxide with metal-oxide bearing minerals, usually containing magnesium or calcium silicate, to form hardly soluble carbonates and other solid byproducts. The concept is based on acceleration of the naturally occurring rock weathering process. In the present work the calcium silicate is present in the mineral, wollastonite. To accelerate the process and make it potentially useful for practical applications, mineral carbonation is conducted here using an indirect two-step route in which the reactive component (Ca²⁺ ions in considered case) is first extracted from the mineral matrix and afterwards carbonated. Two solid byproducts are formed in this process: silica in the extraction step and calcium carbonate in the carbonation step. In the experimental part of this work, both stages of mineral carbonation are investigated using three extraction media: acetic acid and two dicarboxylic acids, succinic and adipic. To interpret the extraction stage of the mineral carbonation process the shrinking core - shrinking shell model is proposed. In the model, the change of the unreacted core size is due to surface reaction that is affected by the porous layer diffusion, with the porous layer subject to abrasion. The model of abrasion is based on the theory of turbulence. Results of investigations show that succinic acid is most effective, followed by adipic acid and acetic acid when both stages of the process are considered in detail.     

动态扩散渗析法回收盐酸的实验与模型分析

近些年来,工业废酸的处理和回收逐渐成为困扰研究者的难题,膜分离技术以诸多优势成为研究重点.扩散渗析作为一种低能环保的膜分离技术,在废酸回收领域运用广泛,酸回收率一直是扩散渗析过程的重要指标.本工作以0.5～5mol/L盐酸为原料进行动态扩散渗析实验,考察进料酸浓度、进料流量(6～20mL/min)、水酸流量比(0.6～...     

Separation of whey proteins by anion-exchange membranes

Three strong anion-exchange membranes (CIM QA, Q100 and HiTrap Q) were investigated for the separation of the major proteins, which were contained in whey, such as α-Lactalbumin, BSA and β-Lactoglobulin. Experiments were performed to determine the optimum mobile phase composition for separating the whey proteins using the standard chemicals of the proteins. The mobile phase was buffer A (20 mM piperazine-HCl pH 6.4) and buffer B (buffer A+1 M NaCl) and the linear gradient elution changes of salt concentration were applied. The standard chemicals of the proteins were used to investigate the optimal mobile phase compositions with the three anion-exchange membranes. From the experimental results, it was found that HiTrap Q was the most effective in separating whey proteins.     

Sorption and diffusion of weak acids in nylon—dual sorption and diffusion model

The sorption and diffusion of fluoro-substituted acetic acids in nylon-6 were measured. Hydrochloric acid was also used for comparison purposes. The results were successfully interpreted quantitatively by a dual sorption model, namely by contribution of associated and dissociated species of the acids concerned. As was expected in the case of the sorption of the weakest acid among the acids used, acetic acid, the contribution of associated species is large. The analysis of the diffusion behavior of acetic acid has shown that the contribution of associated species plays a dominant role in the diffusion process in nylon.     

Dialysis of aqueous solutions of nitric acid and ferric nitrate

The separation of an HNO₃ + Fe(NO₃)₃ mixture using an anion-exchange membrane Neosepta-AFN has been investigated in a two-compartment dialysis cell with stirrers. The experiments have proved that this membrane is a very good separator for this mixture, because nitric acid permeates well through the membrane and ferric nitrate is efficiently rejected. The separation is very efficient at high acid concentrations or low content of the salt in the mixture to be dialyzed.     

Relation between mass transfer and operation parameters in the electrodialysis recovery of acetic acid

The recovery of acetic acid from dilute wastewater by means of bipolar membrane electrodialysis is studied in more detail. The current efficiency of the electrodialysis recovery of acetic acid from dilute wastewater is related to the current density and other operation parameters. There exists a highest value of current efficiency at optimal current density. The highest concentration of recovered acid is also related to current efficiency. The experimental data are analyzed on a theoretical basis.     

Influence of hydrogen bonding acceptor basicities of esters and ketones on the extraction of acetic and butyric acids from aqueous solutions

Extractions of acetic and butyric acids from aqueous solutions by various concentrations of carbonyl-containing compounds dissolved in toluene were carried out at 30°C. The studied compounds included acetone, acetophenone, 2-butanone, cyclohexanone, methyl, ethyl and iso-amyl acetates, and mesityl oxide. The observed distribution ratios allowed the evaluation of association constants for the formation of carboxylic acid-carbonyl-containing compound complexes. These association constants correlate with the hydrogen bonding acceptor basicities of the esters and ketone used. The implementation of these results are discussed.     

Separation of amino acids by simulated moving bed under solvent constrained conditions for the integration of continuous chromatography and biotransformation

A large number of promising enzyme reactions, such as diastereospecific carbon-carbon bond formation by aldolases, suffers from an unfavorable position of the reaction equilibrium. Combining continuous chromatography and enzymatic reactions should allow for a new in situ or online product recovery process to achieve high reaction productivity and yield and make these biocatalysts economically more attractive. The integration imposes a series of constraints on the chromatographic separation, mainly on the applicable solvent, which is at the same time the reaction medium for the enzymatic reaction. We exploit this concept for a model process, the integrated biocatalytic production of L-allo-threonine from glycine and acetaldehyde. Of crucial importance for this process is the separation of the two physicochemically similar amino acids glycine and threonine, in particular in the presence of additional compounds such as the second starting material and enzyme cofactors. This separation was first investigated on a lab-scale simulated moving bed (SMB) unit under enzyme compatible conditions. After triangle theory-based identification of SMB operating points, the two amino acids could be efficiently separated, applying aqueous eluents with minor content of organic co-solvent at neutral pH on a weak cation exchanger resin. Remarkably, the separation performance with respect to the two amino acids was only slightly reduced by coupling the SMB to a continuously operated enzyme membrane reactor, whose efflux contained, in addition to the amino acids, acetaldehyde and the cofactor pyridoxal-5-phosphate. This represents an important step to the future design of even further integrated biocatalytic reaction-separation schemes.     

纳滤分离提取谷氨酰胺过程的研究

对发酵液中的谷氨酰胺提取进行了采用纳滤膜分离技术的尝试，并对谷氨酰胺和谷氨酸混合溶液的纳滤分离进行了理论分析。研究了不同pH条件下发酵液中谷氨酰胺和谷氨酸在纳滤过程中的透过特性，并考察了纳滤过程中氨基酸的透过特性随压力和浓度的变化。结果表明：当发酵液pH=7，谷氨酰胺浓度为1％时，纳滤膜分离谷氨酰胺的提取总收率可达到65％以上。     

Electro‐membrane process for the separation of amino acids by iso‐electric focusing

BACKGROUND: Amino acids (AAs) are usually produced commercially using chemical, biochemical and microbiological fermentation methods. The product obtained from these methods undergoes various treatments involving extraction and electrodialysis (ED) for salt removal and AA recovery. This paper describes an electro‐membrane process (EMP) for the charge based separation of amino acids. RESULTS: Iso‐electric separation of AAs (GLU–LYS) from their mixture, using ion‐ exchange membranes (IEMs) has been achieved by an efficient and indigenous EMP. It was observed that electro‐transport rate (flux) of glutamic acid (GLU) at pH 8.0 (above its pI) was extremely high, while that for lysine (LYS) (pH 9.6) across the anion‐exchange membrane (AEM) was very low, under similar experimental conditions. Under optimum experimental conditions, separation of GLU from GLU–LYS mixture was achieved with moderate energy consumption (12.9 kWh kg^?1), high current efficiency (CE) (65%) and 85% recovery of GLU. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the electro‐transport rate of AA and membrane selectivity, it was concluded that the separation of GLU–LYS mixture was possible at pH 8.0, because of the oppositely charged nature of the two amino acids due to their different pI values. Moreover, any type of membrane fouling and deterioration in membrane conductivity was ruled out under experimental conditions. This work clearly demonstrates the great potential of EMP for industrial applications. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Separation of some light monocarboxylic acids from water inbinary solutions in a reverse osmosis pilot plant

The separation of formic (C₁), acetic (C₂), propionic (C₃), and n-valeric (C₅) acids in binary water solutions has been studied using a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane pilot plant operating at different temperatures and pressures (usually 21 °C and 1.72 MPa). The RO membrane, which is composite, polyamide and spiral-wound, having a surface area of 2.6 m², was fed by a solution of 0.5 M of C₁, C₂ and C₃ acids and 0.146 M of C₅. The pilot plant was used to simulate a cascade series of RO modules by recycling the permeate flux at the end of each semi-batch run. The influence on the retention coefficient, R, of molecular weight and molar volume, pK_a of the different acids was determined. For acetic acid the influence of temperature (T) and transmembrane pressure (ΔP) was also studied, obtaining an inverse and direct good linear correlation for R vs. T and R vs. ΔP, respectively. The results are particularly interesting for acetic acid-water separation, which is an open question in industrial applications.     

Formation of organic acids from propane, isooctane and toluene/isooctane flames

Three fuels (propane, isooctane and toluene/isooctane) are used for the study of the formation of organic acids from their flames. Four organic acids have been found in the combustion products: formic, acetic, propionic and isovaleric acid. These acids are formed very quickly; their concentration then generally increases to reach a maximum value, and then decreases to zero. Toluene enhances the formation of organic acids comparing to propane and isooctane. The concentration of these acids depends strongly on the air/fuel equivalence ratio. Some correlations are found between the concentration of the acids and some alcohols or aldehydes. These results are in accordance with those presented in the case of internal combustion engines.     

Effect of pressure on corrosion of Inconel 625 in supercritical water up to 100 MPa with acids or oxygen

The corrosion behavior of Inconel 625 in supercritical water was investigated under high pressure (30–100 MPa at 400 °C) with the addition of acids (5 mmol/kg CH₃COOH or 0.5 mmol/kg HNO₃) or O₂ (2.5–250 mmol/kg). Ni and Cr ions were the main dissolved metal ions in the effluent. The Ni ion concentration showed no clear dependence on the O₂ concentration or pressure in the experiment with O₂; the concentration was lower than 0.05 ppm. The concentration increased with pressure up to 0.09 ppm and 3 ppm (at 100 MPa) in the experiment with CH₃COOH and HNO₃, respectively. The Cr ion concentration increased with the O₂ concentration and pressure; the maximum value of the concentration was about 0.5 ppm. The Cr ion concentration was lower than 0.01 ppm in the experiment with CH₃COOH, while the concentration was considerably higher in the experiment with HNO₃: the concentration increased with pressure up to 0.87 ppm at 100 MPa. The effect of pressure on the corrosion behavior of Inconel 625 was discussed using potential-pH diagrams, metal oxide solubilities, pH, and equilibrium of ionic reactions. Pressure dependence of the metal ion concentrations was analyzed using a model with water density as a parameter; the log–log plots revealed a linear relationship.