Continuous separation of succinic acid and lactic acid by using a three-zone simulated moving bed process packed with Amberchrom-CG300C

The issue of separating succinic acid and lactic acid in a continuous mode has been a major concern in the biotechnological process for production of succinic acid. To address this issue, both the optimal design and the experimental validation of a three-zone simulated moving bed (SMB) process for such separation were attempted in this article using the Amberchrom-CG300C resin and a self-assembled SMB unit with three zones. First, the intrinsic parameters of the two organic acids on the Amberchrom-CG300 resin were estimated at 40 o C from a series of multiple frontal experiments. The resulting intrinsic parameters were then used in optimizing the experimental setting points for pump flow rates and switching time of the three-zone SMB equipment, which was assisted by an up-to-date genetic algorithm. Based on the optimized conditions, the relevant SMB experiment was conducted at 40 o C and all the resultant samples from the product ports and column outlets of the SMB unit were assayed. It was confirmed from the assay results that the continuous separation of succinic acid and lactic acid was performed successfully. The experimental data for the product concentration profiles and the internal concentration profiles were also in reasonable agreement with the model predictions.This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (grant number 2012R1A2A2A01019790). Also, it was partially supported by the Manpower Development Program for Energy & Resources supported by the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy (MKE), Republic of Korea