Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions Ag

Ulrike Gnabs

Helmut Gehrke

Michael Kleiber

Joachim Schulze

Shashank Ghanegaonkar

Marcel Gawenda

Method and devices for separating and purifying carboxylic acids from fermentation broths comprising carboxylic acid ammonium salts are disclosed herein. The method includes (a) removing biomass and any solids present from the fermentation broth; (b) preparing a solution comprising the desired carboxylic acid and an additional solution comprising ammonium salts, by carrying out simulated moving bed chromatography (SMB); (c) ultra-purifying the solution comprising the desired carboxylic acid from method step (b); (d) concentrating the purified carboxylic acid solution from method step (c); (e) crystallizing the concentrated carboxylic acid solution from method step (d); and (f) concentrating the additional solution comprising ammonium salts from method step (b). A combination of reverse osmosis and evaporation is carried out in method steps (d) and (f), and the vapor from the evaporation of method step (f) is passed into the evaporation of method step (d).

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Kelkheim, Germany

Ulrike Gnabs