Liquid–liquid extraction of succinic acid using a hollow fiber membrane contactor

• Succinic acid extraction was performed using a non-porous membrane as contactor.
• Best extractant based on liquid–liquid extraction experiments was Primene JM-T.
• Extraction and re-extraction steps were coupled in membrane contactor experiments.

Extraction with membrane contactors is an attractive technological alternative for organic acid separation from fermentation broths. This work aims at studying the recovery process of succinic acid, integrating both extraction and re-extraction steps. It was proposed to use a non-porous membrane, which allows more flexibility of operation without loss of efficiency. For the integrated process, a 5-fold increase in the recovery of acid from the feed stream was observed when compared to the single extraction process, leading to an overall recovery close to 50%.