Polylactic acid (PLA) has received great interest nowadays since it can be produced from renewable resources and degraded in a short period of time. In addition, it has numerous uses for a wide range of applications such as protective clothing, food packaging, mulch film, trash bags, rigid containers, shrink wrap and short shelf-life trays. PLA can be synthesized from lactic acid obtained from microbial fermentation of the carbohydrate-rich substances. A high purity level of lactic acid (85%) is necessary in order to yield high-molecular weight PLA. The fermentation broth of lactic acid usually contains a lot of impurities, especially metal ions such as K (I), Ca (II), Mg (II), Fe (II) and Mn (II). Adsorption is a well-established technique to remove ions because of the scale-up capability. Porous materials such as activated carbon (AC) are interesting in industry act as an adsorbent. Since AC has high surface area ratio and low cost. In this work, activated carbon synthesized from coconut shell (CSAC), which has high surface area (774.74 m2/g) and low cost, was selected as an absorbent. The adsorption experiments were studied by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to investigate the amount of metals removal and lactic acid content, respectively. A batch equilibrium technique was carried out under five runs. New CASC was used in each batch to prevent saturation of the adsorbent. The fermentation broth was continuously used through five batches. Moreover, the adsorbents regeneration was investigated to make the system cost-effective for industrial scale.

Absorption of lactic acid from fermentation broth using a cost-effective adsorbent

255th National Meeting (2018)

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