Recovery by Reactive Extraction of Formic Acid from Fermentation Media Using Ionic Liquid as Green Solvent


METE H., Aşçı Y. S.

ICECCE 2018 : 20th International Conference on Environmental Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Roma, Italy, 17 September 2018, vol.20, no.9, pp.965

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
  • Volume: 20
  • City: Roma
  • Country: Italy
  • Page Numbers: pp.965
  • Yıldız Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Abstract[Ed1] — In the fermentation process in which the carboxylic acids having a wide range of applications are naturally produced, the carboxylic acids are obtained as dilute aqueous solutions.

 Production of carboxylic acids by fermentation occurs in the form of multi-component aqueous solutions, with product acid concentrations generally of 10% (g/g) and often less. Since carboxylic acids are hydrophilic, that is to say, highly related to water, their concentration and removal from the water environment are difficult.

 Reactive extraction using organic solvents has shown promising properties as a method of separating carboxylic acid from fermentation broth and is of interest. In the use of organic solvents, there are many disadvantages such as loss of environment and human health, reduction of process safety and difficult renewal of solvent besides quantity consumptions.

 In reactive extraction, which is an effective separation method, the choice of extracting agents and solvents is very important. It is one of the main objectives of this work to minimize the adverse effects of conventional solvents. It is aimed to reduce the negative effects of environment and consumption and to increase the separation efficiency.

 In this context, formic acid (HCOOH) was used as the carboxylic acid in the study. Formic acid has a wide range of applications from the nursery to the paint industry and is also important with its disinfectant properties.

 In order to remove of formic acid from 10% of the solution by fermentation, TPA (tripropylamine) and TOPO (tri-n-octylphosphine oxide) process were tested as extractants with solvent, respectively.

 The solvents to be used to demonstrate the activity of the ionic liquid (IL) are selected as methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), 1-decanol, toluene, cyclohexyl acetate (CHA) and dimethyl phthalate (DMP) which are frequently found in literature.

 Ionic liquids as solvent in the green solvent group, with the environmental chemistry and the physicochemical properties that it possesses.

 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, [BMIM-PF6] was used as the ionic liquid which is the key point of the work.

 The efficacy of ionic liquid compared to solvents commonly used as solvents with one of the extractants is compared.

 The TPA-organic solvent and the TOPO organic solvent pair are common in the literature in extraction processes. However, there is no TPA-ionic liquid or TOPO-ionic liquid for formic acid separation.   The results obtained from the systems in which the commonly used solvents are included and the systems in which the ionic liquid is included are compared.

 Optimum working conditions for combinations of possible organic phase (IL-TPA mixtures/ IL-TOPO mixtures) were determined in addition to successful selection of ionic liquids in the study. The effect of the amine concentration on the extraction yield was determined by preparing mixtures at different concentrations. Using the data obtained, it is important to design reagent extraction processes; the distribution coefficient (D), the loading factor (Z) and the percentage of extraction efficiency (E%) were calculated.

The water phase acid concentration decreased by with TPA-IL, to 10 % from 1.77 %. 81.7 % separation efficiency was calculated that is more than other results of solvents.

 Event percentages are not close to 100 %. However, in contrast to commonly used solvents with known adverse effects, the best efficacy has been achieved with ionic liquid, which is called environmental and green solvent.

Keywords— acetic acid, BMIM-PF6, carboxylic acids, extraction, extractant, ionic liquid, reactive extraction, separation method, TOPO, TPA.

H. M. (Author) is with Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, She is now with the department of Chemical Engineering, 34220 TR (phone: +90 212 383 47 51); (e-mail: hilalm@yildiz.edu.tr).

Y. S. A., is with Istanbul University, Istanbul, 34320 TR (phone: +90 212 473 70 70 – 17997); (e-mail: sasci@istanbul.edu.tr).


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