Chromatographic separation of organic acids using polymeric macroporous adsorbent

Abstract

Provided is a method for chromatographically separating a first class of organic acids from a second class of acids which are both present in a liquid feed mixture by passing the liquid feed mixture through a bed including a non-functionalized polymeric macroporous adsorbent, wherein: i) the first class of organic acids are selected from one or more of: propionic acid, lactic acid, itaconic acid,succinic acid, maleic acid, citric acid, ascorbic acid and alpha-ketoglutaric acid; and ii) the second class of organic acids are selected from one or more of: glycolic acid, gluconic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid and saccharic acid.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to the use of polymeric macroporous adsorbents (stationary phases) for the chromatographic separation of selected organic acids (analytes) from common liquid feed mixtures. Background technique [0002] Many industrial processes generate liquid feed streams containing various organic acids. For example, fermentation broths that include sugars such as glucose and fructose may be degraded by bacterial action to produce lactic acid, malic acid, and other weak organic acids. If not removed from the sugar solution, the taste and color of the resulting food product may be adversely affected. [0003] Ion exchange resins have been used as stationary phases for the chromatographic separation of organic acids from fermentation broths. See eg US8664436, US5068418 and EP0481603. These separations rely on ionic interactions between the acids present on the stationary-phase resin and the ion-exchange groups. While effective in sepa...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

While effective at separating organic acids from fermentation broths, these techniques do not readily separate the individual organic acids from each other

Images