Bipolar Membrane Electrodialysis for Cleaner Production of Diprotic Malic Acid: Separation Mechanism and Performance Evaluation
Jinfeng He,
Rong Zhou,
Zhiguo Dong,
Junying Yan,
Xixi Ma,
Wenlong Liu,
Li Sun,
Chuanrun Li,
Haiyang Yan,
Yaoming Wang,
Tongwen Xu
Affiliations
Jinfeng He
School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Engineering Technology Research Center, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
Rong Zhou
School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Engineering Technology Research Center, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
Zhiguo Dong
School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Engineering Technology Research Center, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
Junying Yan
Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory for Functional Membranes, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Xixi Ma
School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Engineering Technology Research Center, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
Wenlong Liu
School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Engineering Technology Research Center, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
Li Sun
School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Engineering Technology Research Center, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
Chuanrun Li
School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Engineering Technology Research Center, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
Haiyang Yan
School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Engineering Technology Research Center, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
Yaoming Wang
Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory for Functional Membranes, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Tongwen Xu
Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory for Functional Membranes, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) is a promising process for the cleaner production of organic acid. In this study, the separation mechanism of BMED with different cell configurations, i.e., BP-A, BP-A-C, and BP-C (BP, bipolar membrane; A, anion exchange membrane; C, cation exchange membrane), to produce diprotic malic acid from sodium malate was compared in consideration of the conversion ratio, current efficiency and energy consumption. Additionally, the current density and feed concentration were investigated to optimize the BMED performance. Results indicate that the conversion ratio follows BP-C > BP-A-C > BP-A, the current efficiency follows BP-A-C > BP-C > BP-A, and the energy consumption follows BP-C 2 in consideration of low total process cost; high feed concentration (0.5–1.0 mol/L) is more feasible to produce diprotic malic acid due to the high conversion ratio (73.4–76.2%), high current efficiency (88.6–90.7%), low energy consumption (0.66–0.71 kWh/kg) and low process cost (0.58–0.59 USD/kg). Moreover, a high concentration of by-product NaOH (1.3497 mol/L) can be directly recycled to the upstream process. Therefore, BMED is a cleaner, high-efficient, low energy consumption and environmentally friendly process to produce diprotic malic acid.
