090062: Improved Method for Succinic Acid Recovery

Succinic acid and other carboxylic acids have commercial relevance in the pharmaceutical food and polymer production industries as well as in the manufacture of other industrial chemicals. DescriptionMSU’s invention simplifies the process for the recovery of succinic acid from fermentation broths in the form of ethyl esters which enables separation of succinate by distillation. The novel aspect of this invention is the extraction of the acids from the fermentation broth into ethanol eliminating several purification steps required to separate carboxylic acids without needing to purify succinic acid as an intermediate. Benefits· Economical and simplified production: The process eliminates the need to isolate and purify succinic acid before producing the ester and reduces waste.· Recovery of other co-products: Other important carboxylic acids can be produced economically by the same simplified process.·