A novel process for recovery of fermentation-derived succinic acid: Process design and economic analysis. Recovery and purification of organic acids produced in fermentation constitutes a significant fraction of total production cost.

In this paper, the design and economic analysis of a process to recover succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) (SA) via dissolution and acidification of succinate salts in ethanol, followed by reactive distillation to form succinate esters, is presented. Process simulation was performed for a range of plant capacities (13-55 million kg/yr SA) and succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) SA fermentation titers (50-100 kg/m(3)).

Economics were evaluated for a recovery system installed within an existing fermentation facility producing succinate salts at a cost of $0.66/kg SA. For a succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) SA processing capacity of 54.9 million kg/yr and a titer of 100 kg/m(3) succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) SA, the model predicts a capital investment of $75 million and a net processing cost of $1.85 per kg SA. Required selling price of diethyl succinate for a 30% annual return on investment is $1.57 per kg. Copyright 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.