(395az) Development of a Three-Zone Simulated Moving Bed Process for Separation of Succinic Acid and Lactic Acid

In this study, a three-zone simulated moving bed process was developed for continuous separation of succinic acid and lactic acid, which came from the biotechnological process for production of succinic acid. First, an Amberchrom-CG300C resin was found to be suitable for the adsorbent of such SMB process. On the basis of the selected adsorbent, the intrinsic parameters of succinic acid and lactic acid were estimated at 40 °C through a series of multiple frontal experiments. The estimated parameters were then used in the next stage of optimizing the operating conditions of the three-zone SMB unit, which was assembled by our research group. Under the optimized conditions, the relevant SMB experiment was carried out at 40 °C and all the resultant samples from the product ports and column outlets were assayed, which verified 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.