Reactive Extraction Process for Concentrating Citric Acid using an Electrolyte Mixed Solvent

摘要

A process for the separation and the concentration of citric acid was developed within the context of clean technology. It is based on the liquid-liquid phase equilibrium thermodynamic of a system containing salt, which indicates the liquid-liquid extraction process using electrolyte mixed solvent, as potentially attractive to recover citric acid from its fermentation broth. Experimental ternary and quaternary liquid-liquid equilibrium data were obtained in this work and the electrolyte activity coefficient model parameters were calculated from them. The ASPEN PLUS process commercial simulator was used for calculating the thermodynamic parameters, for simulating and for optimizing the process developed.