Adsorption Behaviour of Lactic Acid on Granular Activated Carbon and Anionic Resins: Thermodynamics, Isotherms and Kinetic Studies

Solid-liquid extraction (adsorption or ion exchange) is a promising approach for the in situ separation of organic acids from fermentation broths. In this study, a diluted concentration of lactic acid (<10 g/L) separation from a model fermentation broth by granular activated carbon (GAC) as well as weak (Reillex® 425 or RLX425) and strong (Amberlite® IRA-400 or AMB400) base anion exchange resins under various operating conditions was experimentally investigated. Thermodynamic analysis showed that the best lactic acid adsorption performances were obtained at a pH below the pK_a value of lactic acid (i.e., 3.86) for GAC and RLX425 by physical adsorption mechanism and above the pK_a value for the AMB400 resin by an ion exchange mechanism, respectively. The adsorption capacity for GAC (38.2 mg/g) was the highest, followed by AMB400 (31.2 mg/g) and RLX425 (17.2 mg/g). As per the thermodynamic analysis, the lactic acid adsorbed onto GAC and RLX425 through a physical adsorption mechanism, whereas the lactic acid adsorbed onto AMB400 with an ion exchange mechanism. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm model (R² > 0.96) and the pseudo-second order kinetic model (R² ~ 1) fitted better to the experimental data than the other models tested. Postulating the conditions for the real fermentation broth (pH: 5.0–6.5 and temperature: 30–80 °C), the resin AMB400 represents an ideal candidate for the extraction of lactic acid during fermentation.