General design methodology for reactive liquid–liquid extraction: application to dicarboxylic acid recovery in fermentation broth

A general design methodology for reactive liquid–liquid extraction is introduced in this paper. It is composed of three different steps: feasibility analysis, pre-design determination and simulation validation. This paper is focused on the first and the second step. This methodology leads to the design specifications of the units from the information concerning the physico-chemical behaviour of the studied system, exploiting the equilibrium and material balance equations. The results of this methodology are a good starting point for an optimization study or for an investment calculation process. This methodology has been applied to different case studies: two different strategies of extraction and several solvents to recover succinic acid in fermentation broth.