Original Articles
Qianzhu Li, Xinglin Jiang, Hui
Abstract
The biological routes have been a competitive alternative for organic compounds especially the organic acids. However, the main factor restrained the application of biological routes in large scale is the cost of organic acids separation. Ionic liquids have been claimed to have the potential to achieve the separation of organic acids. In this paper, the interphase distribution of three organic acids in systems involving five different imidazolium-based ionic liquids had been analyzed. Results showed that hydrophobicity and concentration of organic acid, alkyl chain on the cation and anion of the ionic liquids, the pH of the extraction system all could affect the extraction efficiency. Additionally, the back extraction of organic acids from ionic liquids into distilled water could be up to 81%. The results indicated ionic liquids are potentially useful in the recovery of organic acids from diluted broths, and they also provided useful information for designing special ionic liquids for extraction.