New reactive extraction systems for separation of bio-succinic acid

Abstract

Biotechnologically produced succinic acid has the potential to displace maleic acid and its uses and to become an important feedstock for the chemical industry. In addition to optimized production strains and fermentation processes, an efficient separation of succinic acid from the aqueous fermentation broth is indispensable to compete with the current petrochemical production processes. In this context, high molecular weight amines are known to be effective extractants for organic acids. For this reason, as a first step of isolation and purification, the reactive extraction of succinic acid was studied by mixing aqueous succinic acid solutions with 448 different amine-solvent mixtures as extraction agents (mixer-settler studies). The extraction agents consist either of one amine and one solvent (208 reactive extraction systems) or two amines and two solvents (240 reactive extraction systems). Maximum extraction yields of succinic acid from an aqueous solution with 423 mM succinic acid at pH 2.0 were obtained with more than 95% yield with trihexylamine solved in 1-octanol or with dihexylamine and diisooctylamine solved in 1-octanol and 1-hexanol. Applying these optimized reactive extraction systems with Escherichia coli fermentation broth resulted in extraction yields of 78-85% due to the increased ionic strength of the fermentation supernatant and the co-extraction of other organic acids (e.g., lactic acid and acetic acid), which represent typical fermentation byproducts.

Mixed Carboxylic Acid Production by Megasphaera elsdenii from Glucose and Lignocellulosic Hydrolysate

“…In the current work, we use pure THA and TOA. Oleyl alcohol is one of the most common diluents for in situ extraction [11,20,30] and octanol has also been identified as highly effective for succinic acid extractions [29].…”

Recovery of cis,cis-muconic acid from organic phase after reactive extraction

“…Reactive extraction of dicarboxylic acids has been shown to be applicable for various dicarboxylic acids, e.g. malonic acid [15][16][17], glutaric acid [18], succinic acid [15][16][17][19][20][21][22][23], fumaric acid [15][16][17], malic acid [18,24], maleic acid [15][16][17][18], itaconic acid [25][26][27] and cis,cismuconic acid (CCMA) [9]. However, the crucial step towards an applicable downstream process is not only the initial RE of the acid, but also a re-extraction (REEX) of the acid from the organic phase leading to the pure acid in an aqueous phase for further processing.…”

Engineered biosynthesis of biodegradable polymers

“…In order to improve the yield and selectivity of liquid-liquid extraction of organic acids from aqueous phase, extractants including aliphatic amines have been used in reactive extraction [56,83,92]. In a recent study, a hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) was operated in liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) mode for extracting succinic acid from an aqueous feed [123].…”