A novel process for recovery of fermentation-derived succinic acid: Process design and economic analysis

•Design of a novel succinic acid recovery process is described.•Process gives pure diethyl succinate via reactive distillation as primary product.•Raw material costs constitute nearly 85% of total succinic acid production cost.•Economic analysis shows that succinic acid can compete with maleic anhyd...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioresource technology 2013-07, Vol.139, p.235-241
Main Authors: Orjuela, Alvaro, Orjuela, Andrea, Lira, Carl T., Miller, Dennis J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Biotechnology
Biotechnology - economics
Biotechnology - methods
Costs and Cost Analysis
Design engineering
Distillation
Economic analysis
Economics
Esterification
Ethanol - economics
Ethanol - metabolism
Ethyl alcohol
Fermentation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Mathematical models
Methods. Procedures. Technologies
Microbial engineering. Fermentation and microbial culture technology
Process economics
Reactive distillation
Recovery
Succinates - economics
Succinates - metabolism
Succinic acid
Succinic Acid - economics
Succinic Acid - metabolism
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Summary:•Design of a novel succinic acid recovery process is described.•Process gives pure diethyl succinate via reactive distillation as primary product.•Raw material costs constitute nearly 85% of total succinic acid production cost.•Economic analysis shows that succinic acid can compete with maleic anhydride. Recovery and purification of organic acids produced in fermentation constitutes a significant fraction of total production cost. In this paper, the design and economic analysis of a process to recover succinic acid (SA) via dissolution and acidification of succinate salts in ethanol, followed by reactive distillation to form succinate esters, is presented. Process simulation was performed for a range of plant capacities (13–55million kg/yr SA) and SA fermentation titers (50–100kg/m3). Economics were evaluated for a recovery system installed within an existing fermentation facility producing succinate salts at a cost of $0.66/kg SA. For a SA processing capacity of 54.9millionkg/yr and a titer of 100kg/m3 SA, the model predicts a capital investment of $75 million and a net processing cost of $1.85 per kg SA. Required selling price of diethyl succinate for a 30% annual return on investment is $1.57 per kg.
ISSN:0960-8524
1873-2976
DOI:10.1016/j.biortech.2013.03.174