2.

4 Concentrating Citric Acid Solution

After primary recovery of citric acid from the fermentation broth, further downstream processes must be employed in order to recover citric acid with high purity. Several concentration methods can be performed to obtain a solution with high citric acid concentration. The table below shows the different types of processes that can be used for concentrating citric acid solution.

Table _. Methods for Recovery and Purification of Citric Acid (Wu, 2009; Widiasa et al., 2004; Luo et al., 2004; Prasad, 2010; Peng et al., 2001) OPTIONS Reverse Osmosis CITERIA Evaporation Filtration

High productivity, yield, recovery

[+] High capacity and selectivity [+] Found to be a promising alternative to the conventional process

[+] Ability to press large [+] Cell loss is typically amounts in one run 1 to 5%. [-] Fail to yield clear supernatants

3 [-] Solvent extract some impurities contained in molassesderived liquors Safety, Ease [+] Low tendency to of operation, emulsion formation flexibility, [+] Safely used to reliability produce food-grade citric acid in accordance Rating: Rating: 3

2 [+] Simplicity of operation [-] Usually requires two stage operation to procure comparable extraction efficiencies with other operations

2 [+] Large volume capacity [+] Advantage for large and dense microorganisms (diameter>2 m) and density > 1.03 g/cm3

Economically practical

[+] Low capital investment [+] Less waste disposal problems

[+] Low capital cost [-] Energy intensive operation

[-] High maintenance costs [-] High capital investment 1

3 [+] Uses non-toxic Environmental substances Impact Rating: Rating: Total Rating: 1 10 7

0 9

0 5

Based from Table __ above, adsorption process has the highest rating making it the most favorable operation for the recovery and purification of citric acid. In the patent literature adsorption chromatography has been suggested as a feasible technology for recovery of citric acid from the fermentation broth (Traving & Bart, 2002). Recently, the Simulated Bed Technology (SMB), which is a multicolumn continuous chromatographic separation technology, has gained more attention in the field of separation technologies. This type of adsorption chromatography would be employed for the production of citric acid (Wu, 2009).