Kinetics of ion exchange process for separation of glutamic acid

Abstract

Kinetics of the separation of L-glutamic acid (GLU) by ion exchange has been studied with strongly acidic H+-type cation exchange resin Amberlite IR-122. Since glutamic acid is a trivalent ampholyte and dissociates according to three equilibrium reactions, separation of G+ ions by a cation exchange process is accompanied by the dominant reversible reaction, i.e. G++H+ ⇄ G0. Accompanying reversible reaction has an effect on the ion exchange rate, and decreases the performance of the process comparing with the ideal case that the exchanging ions retain their identity. The analysis was performed first with the ion exchange column, DIC (L/D=0.52); and then with the ion exchange column, IC (L/D=10.9). The data were collected with model glutamic acid solutions for both DIC and IC columns/reactors. IC experimental results were then compared with that of DIC and the effect of scale up on ion exchange process was investigated. The experimental results have provided an adequate basis for the design calculations, and the design parameters were determined. Rate coefficients for the liquid phase mass transfer controlled cation exchange process were calculated and interrelated with a plot of jMfactor versus Reynolds number.