Patent ID: 9233906
Filing Date: 2016-01-12
CPC Classification: C07C,C12P,Y02P

Claim Text:
1. An industrial scale continuous process for recovering succinic acid from a fermentation broth containing succinate salt wherein said continuous process comprises the steps of: (a) providing (i) a fermentation broth containing succinate salt and (ii) an anionic ion exchange resin; (b) contacting the anionic ion exchange resin with the fermentation broth containing succinate salt, which comprises succinate anion and a cation; (c) exchanging the succinate anion with the anion on the ion exchange resin; (d) washing the ion exchange resin to remove materials other than the succinate anion bound to the ion exchange resin; (e) displacing the succinate anion from the ion exchange resin as succinic acid by washing the resin with an acid containing an anion that is stronger than the succinate anion, in a concentration and at a temperature effective to displace the succinate anion without causing crystallization of succinic acid during the ion exchange process; and (f) collecting the fractions containing succinic acid; wherein said contacting between the ion exchange resin and the fermentation broth is achieved in a continuous ion-exchange mode; wherein said succinate salt is selected from the group consisting of ammonium succinate, potassium succinate, sodium succinate and mixtures of two or more thereof; wherein said cation is selected from the group consisting of ammonium, potassium, sodium and mixtures of two or more thereof; and wherein the concentration of washing acid in step (e) is 5% to 8% (w/w).