Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
6-30-1962
Degree Name
Master of Science in Chemical Engineering - (M.S.)
Department
Chemical Engineering
First Advisor
Saul I. Kreps
Second Advisor
George C. Keeffe
Third Advisor
Joseph Joffe
Abstract
A possible step in a proposed industrial method for purifying and concentrating technical grade (44 per cent) lactic acid was investigated. The proposed method is the extraction of lactic acid from the crude grade by n-butyl alcohol, esterification of the extract by n-butyl alcohol and hydrolysis of the resultant purified ester to pure lactic acid. The extraction of lactic acid by n-butyl alcohol from the crude grade was the topic considered in this paper.
The extraction process was carried out at temperatures of 10.2°C, 25.0°C, 40.0°C and 60.00C using both U. S. P. lactic acid (85 per cent) and technical grade lactic acid (44 per cent) as feed solutions. Data exists in the literature for the U. S. P. lactic acid system at 25.0°C but no data exists at the other above mentioned temperatures.
Several features are reported which, to the author’s knowledge, appear in a publication for the first time. They are as follows:
1. The solubility data and diagrams for the system lactic acid, water and n-butanol at temperatures other than 25.0°C.
2. The solubility envelope of the system decreases with increasing temperature.
3. There is a preferential extraction of the dimeric lactic acid as compared to the monomeric acid.
4. The extraction of lactic acid is more favorable in the U. S. P. acid system than in the technical grade acid system. The limiting solubility in the U. S. P. acid system is approximately 12 per cent higher than that in the technical grade acid system at each temperature investigated.
5. It is concluded from the experimental equilibrium data obtained that n-butyl alcohol would not serve as a satisfactory extraction agent for lactic acid from an aqueous 44 per cent lactic acid solution.
Recommended Citation
Kaplan, Joel Howard, "Extraction of technical grade lactic acid with n-butyl alcohol" (1962). Theses. 3051.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/3051
