Plant Design Project: Tartaric Acid

摘要

The main objective of the project is to prepare tartaric acid in a commercial way and to optimize its production by using continuous reactors. Tartaric acid is one of the main acids found in wine. It has numerous applications in food and pharmaceutical industries. Also it is used in several cosmetic and analytical applications. It has wide applications in preservation of food and medicines. Maleic acid is chosen as the raw material. It has structural similarity with Tartaric acid and it is widely available from existing maleic anhydride processes. For a combined oxidation and hydrolysis required for hydroxylation, several oxidizing agents are investigated and hydrogen peroxide is found to be best. The most favorable reaction is occurred when a 30% aqueous solution of maleic acid is heated with 35% hydrogen peroxide solution in presence of 0.5% of tungstic acid as the catalyst. When reactants in the molar ratio of 1.5 to 1 are reacted at a temperature of 80°C to 100°C, a high yield of pure epoxy succinic acid is obtained. This is further treated with the bacteria of a Nocardia species. This bacteria attacks the epoxy ring of epoxy succinic acid and favors the hydrolysis of epoxysuccinic acid into pure L-Tartaric acid. This method offers a good commercial process in terms of good availability & low cost of raw materials, simple operations & equipments, a good yield with little or no byproduct formation.