Comparison of the separation of lactic acid and l-leucine by liquid emulsion membranes

Abstract

A mass transfer model originally proposed for the permeation of zinc and l-phenylalanine was slightly modified and used for calculating the mass transfer resistances in lactic acid permeation (using the secondary amine Amberlite LA-2 as a carrier) and l-leucine permeation (using the quaternary ammoniumchloride Aliquat 336 as a carrier). The results show that under optimized conditions lactic acid permeation is controlled by the rate of reaction and that l-leucine permeation is controlled by the rate of reaction and the diffusion through the emulsion globule. The model results were compared with batch experiments separating lactic acid and l-leucine from real fermentation broths. The comparison shows that the separation rate is affected by co-transport of pH regulating agents and to a smaller extent by the co-transport of water.