Utilization of electrodialysis for galacturonic acid recovery

Recovery of galacturonic acid from sugar beet pulp's pectin hydrolysate by electrodialysis process was studied. An asymmetric electrodialysis cell (consisted of three cation-selective and two anion-selective membranes) was constructed which was firstly tested by model solutions. Then measurements were carried out using pectin hydrolysate obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of sugar beet pulp pectin using Pectinex 100 L enzyme preparation. As a result 94% of the initial galacturonate concentration was recovered by the electrodialysis cell and 25.4% galacturonate content in the concentrate solution was achieved.