The issue of separating succinic acid and lactic acid in a continuous mode has been a major concern in the biotechnological process for production of succinic acid. To address this issue, both the optimal design and the experimental validation of a three-zone simulated moving bed (SMB) process for such separation were attempted in this article using the Amberchrom-CG300C resin and a self-assembled SMB unit with three zones. First, the intrinsic parameters of the two organic acids on the Amberchrom-CG300 resin were estimated at 40 degrees C from a series of multiple frontal experiments. The resulting intrinsic parameters were then used in optimizing the experimental setting points for pump flow rates and switching time of the three-zone SMB equipment, which was assisted by an up-to-date genetic algorithm. Based on the optimized conditions, the relevant SMB experiment was conducted at 40 degrees C and all the resultant samples from the product ports and column outlets of the SMB unit were assayed. It was confirmed from the assay results that the continuous separation of succinic acid and lactic acid was performed successfully. The experimental data for the product concentration profiles and the internal concentration profiles were also in reasonable agreement with the model predictions. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.