Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.58, No.7, 2575-2582, 2019
Long-Chain Alcohol-Modified Micellar Systems and Their Application in a Continuous Extraction Process
The integration of an in situ extraction into biocatalytic processes is often limited by the toxicity of organic solvents. Therefore, it is desirable to use water-based extraction systems (for example, aqueous micellar two-phase systems). They can be used, for instance, for the extraction of valuable products from microalgae cultures. Recently, the nonionic surfactant ROKAnol NL5 was identified as a suitable surfactant for this purpose, since it forms an upper micellar phase, enabling an easy separation of whole-cell biocatalysts. However, its application at temperatures below 45 degrees C is limited by unstable phase boundaries, whereas the maximal temperature to ensure the vitality of the most microalgae cultures is similar to 40 degrees C. To overcome this problem, the addition of long-chain alcohols to the surfactant-water mixture during extraction is suggested in this work. Using 1-hexanol, a continuous extraction process with the model solute trans-cinnamic acid at 40 degrees C in a stirred column could be realized. The results of a new suggested water/ROKAnol NL5/1-hexanol system at 40 degrees C (extraction yield, Y-cont, = 97.67% +/- 0.14%; enrichment factor, log(10), T-CA = 2.42 +/- 0.03; number of theoretical stages, N-theo = 4.45 +/- 0.16) are comparable to those of the water/ROKAnol NL5 system at 45 degrees C (Y-cont = 99.26% +/- 0.24%, log(10) T-CA = 2.60 +/- 0.10, N-theo = 5.88 +/- 0.67), ensuring, however, no damage of microalgae.