Reactive Extraction of Acetic acid using Natural Diluents

Acetic acid is one of the most widely used carboxylic acids. With the growing importance of green routes for chemical synthesis the production of carboxylic acids, including acetic acid, by the fermentation route is very important. The recovery of acetic acid from the fermentation broth by conventional methods poses difficulties due to the low concentration. Reactive extraction offers an attractive alternative to the conventional routes. The reactive extraction with specific extractant and in appropriate combination with a diluent provides higher capacity and selectivity for acetic acid. In this work recovery of acetic acid by reactive extraction was studied using a natural diluent, ricebran oil. The initial concentration of acetic acid in the aqueous solution was varied in the range of 0.1 to 1 gmol/l. The extractant used was Tri-n-butyl phosphate. The distribution coefficient was found to be in the range 0.11 to 0.64.