Parametric optimization of green synergistic reactive extraction of lactic acid using trioctylamine, Aliquat336, and butan-2-ol in sunflower oil by response surface methodology

Abstract

A novel green synergistic reactive extraction technique for the removal of lactic acid (LA) from aqueous solution was explored. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the process variables for LA synergistic reactive extraction using a mixture of trioctylamine and Aliquat336 as extractants. During this present investigation, 2-butanol and sunflower oil were used as organic and green diluent. Systematic investigation has been carried out to obtain the optimum process conditions viz. initial LA concentration, pH of aqueous solution, extractant ratio, extractant concentration, solvent ratio, phase ratio, temperature, stirring speed, and contact time for maximizing the LA distribution coefficient (KD) and extraction efficiency (%, η). The highest experimentally achievable LA distribution coefficient (KD) and extraction efficiency (%) at optimized process conditions were found to be in close agreement with those predicted by numerical optimization using RSM. Thus, the results of present finding have been shown a great ability of sunflower oil as an economic and environmentally friendly green solvent for LA extraction.