Solubility of fumaric acid and its monosodium salt

Carol A. Roa Engel, Joop H. Ter Horst, Mervin Pieterse, Luuk A.M. Van Der Wielen, Adrie J.J. Straathof

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Fumaric acid is a dicarboxylic acid applied in food industry and in some polymers. Currently, its fermentative production from renewable resources is receiving much attention, and crystallization is used to recover it. To determine the window of operation for crystallization from multicomponent fermentation mixtures, the aqueous solubilities of fumaric acid and its sodium salts were investigated. For fumaric acid, sodium hydrogen fumarate, and sodium fumarate, solubilities and pH increased in this order because of increasing polarity and dissociation. A mathematical model was developed to predict crystal type and amount as function of temperature and pH. The effect of glucose (up to 3.0 mmol·mol-1) on the solubility can be neglected, but ethanol (1.0 mmol·mol-1) slightly increased the solubility of fumaric acid and significantly decreased the solubility of the sodium salts, because the aqueous solution becomes less polar upon ethanol addition but not upon glucose addition.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)9454-9460
Number of pages7
JournalIndustrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
Volume52
Issue number27
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jul 2013
Externally publishedYes

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