Mandelic acid (MA) an α hydroxycarboxylic acid found in bitter almonds. It has gained importance in recent years, especially due to its use in the cosmetic industry. Separation processes of mandelic acid have a critical point in the production stages obtained the product form. In this study, extraction of mandelic acid from aqueous solutions was carried out using five different concentrations of Amberlite LA-2 (LA2) solution. Dimethyl phthalate (DMP), methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), 2-octanone, 1-octanol, n-pentane, octyl acetate, and toluene were used as diluents in the organic phase. The batch extraction results of mandelic acid were obtained for process design. The data were analyzed with respect to loading factor (Z), distribution coefficient (D), and extraction efficiency (E). In addition, the overall extraction constants, K 11, K 12, K 13, and K 23 have been determined for acid–amine complex. The maximum removal of mandelic acid in this study is 92.75% with MIBK and 0.57 mol·kg–1 initial concentration of Amberlite LA-2.

Mandelic acid is a valuable chemical that is commonly used in the synthesis of various drugs, in antibacterial products, and as a skin care agent in cosmetics. As it is an important chemical, various methods are used to synthesize and extract this compound. However, the yields of the used processes is not significant. A dilute aqueous solution is obtained when using several production methods, such as a fermentation, etc. In this study, the reactive extraction of mandelic acid from aqueous solutions using tri-n-octylamine extractant at 298.15 K was investigated. Dimethyl phthalate (DMP), methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), 2-octanone, 1-octanol, n-pentane, octyl acetate, and toluene were used as diluents. The batch extraction results of the mandelic acid experiments were obtained for the development of a process design. Calculations of the loading factor (Z), distribution coefficient (D), and extraction efficiency (E%) were based on the experimental data. The highest separation yield was obtained as 98.13% for 0.458 mol.L−1 of tri-n-octylamine concentration in DMP. The overall extraction constants were analyzed for the complex of acid-amine by the Bizek approach, including K11, K12, and K23.