Evaluation Of Liquid-liquid Extraction Process For Separating Acrylic Acid From Biomass Fermentation

Among the alternative carbon sources becomes the sugar cane that is a renewable source of great interest for energy and chemical industries. So, through advanced biotechnology methods, one of the possible routes for obtaining acrylic acid is through dehydration of lactic acid, which can be obtained via fermentation of biomass. The liquid-liquid extraction process is an alternative for the separation of acrylic acid, from the mixture formed after reaction, since it is suitable for dilute systems and, also, it is carried out in such a way that avoid thermal degradation of the materials being separated. In order to represent the non-idealities present in the liquid-liquid equilibria (LLE), some thermodynamic models and methods are available, such as the most used models NRTL and UNIQUAC, and the group contribution methods UNIFAC and their modifications. In this work, these models were used to generate liquid-liquid equilibrium diagrams for systems composed by acrylic acid, water and isopropyl acetate. For the cases where no LLE binary interaction parameters are available, UNIFAC was used to estimate these parameters. The results were compared with available LLE experimental data. Aspen Plus software was used for equilibrium and process calculations. Accuracy in the phase equilibrium representation is one of the most critical conditions to be evaluated in the extraction process.Abrams, D.S., Prausnitz, J.M., (1975) AIChEJ, 21, pp. 116-128Chubarov, G.A., Danov, S.M., Logutov, V.I., Obmelyukhina, T.N., (1985) Journal of Applied Chemistry of the URSS, 57, pp. 1671-1673Chuvarov, G.A., Danov, S.M., Brovkina, G.V., (1976) Zr. Prikl. Khim, 49, pp. 1413-1415Danner, H., Ürmös, M., Gartner, M., Braun, R., (1998) Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnlogy, 70-72, pp. 887-894Frolov, A.F., Loginova, M.A., Ustavshchikov, B.F., (1967) Zr. Prikl. Khim, 41, pp. 2088-2090Gmehling, J., Li, J., Schiller, M., (1993) Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 32, pp. 178-193Larsen, B.L., Rasmussen, P., Fredenslund, A., (1987) Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev, 26, pp. 2274-2286Li, Y., Wang, Y., Li, Y., (2003) J. Chem. Eng. Data, 48, pp. 621-624Linek, J., Hlavatý, K., Wichterle, I., (1972) Collection Czechoslov. Chem. Commun, 38, pp. 1840-1845Magnussen, T., Rasmussen, P., Fredenslund, A., (1981) Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev, 20, pp. 331-339Matsuda, H., Ochi, K., Surugadai, K., (2003) J. Chem. Eng. Data, 48, pp. 184-189Pinto, R.T.P., Lintomen, L., Luz Jr., L.F.L., Wolf-Maciel, M.R., (2005) Fluid Phase Equilibria, 228-229, pp. 447-457Renon, H., Prausnitz, J.M., (1968) AIChE J, 14, pp. 135-144Straathof, A.J.J., Sie, S., Franco, T.T., van der Wielen, L.A.M., (2005) Appl. Microbiol Biotechnol, 67, pp. 727-73