Purification of high value succinic acid from biomass fermentation broth via nanofiltration

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Succinic acid purification from biomass fermentation experiences difficulty due to similar properties of acids presence. Thus purification work is conducted using nanofiltration (NF) membranes, and further characterizing its filtration performances. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The membranes used were NF1 and NF2 from AmforInc and NF270 from Filmtec. The investigated filtration performance parameters were different acids concentration and operating pressure of 5, 10, 20 and 50 g/L and 2, 5, 10 and 15 bar, respectively. Findings: From the results, NF270 showed the most efficient in purifying the succinic acid at 20 g/L and 50 g/L, which were 76% and 64.4% purification, respectively from 33% concentration in the feed solution. Meanwhile for different pressure, NF2 shows the highest purification percentages which were 82% and 81% at the respective 5 and 10 bar followed by NF270 membrane at 68% and 67% at the respective 5 and 10 bar. The characterization of the membranes using DSC, FTIR, contact angle and SEM method shows that there was no fouling on the membranes observed after the filtration when there were no differences shown on the analysis results. This indicates that the range of pressure and concentration used in this study are suitable to perform the purification. Contact angle has found to influence the percentage of purification of each membrane where the less hydrophilic membrane shows the highest purification percentage. Application/Improvements: Thus NF270 and NF2 membranes were considered as the best candidate for purifying the succinic acid from fermentation broth.