Chenxiao Jiang

Membranes for the recovery of organic acids from fermentation broths

Electro-driven membranes and related processes have competitive potential for the recovery of organic acids from fermentation broths. These separation technologies offer system flexibility for cleaning protocols with great advantages in waste minimization and process simplification. Pressure-driven membranes are indispensable pretreatment processes to eliminate impurities that cause membrane fouling. The conventional electrodialysis process allows the transportation of organic acid salts from uncharged components and concentration of the fermentation broth. Dissociation of electrodialytic water in bipolar membranes realizes the conversion of organic acid salts into target acids and bases that can adjust the pH of the fermentation process. It is expected that synergistic coupling between the electro-driven and pressure-driven membrane processes possess both environmental and economical benefits for organic acid production.

Ion Exchange Membranes for Electrodialysis: A Comprehensive Review of Recent Advances

Electrodialysis related processes are effectively applied in desalination of sea and brackish water, waste water treatment, chemical process industry, and food and pharmaceutical industry. In this process, fundamental component is the ion exchange membrane (IEM), which allows the selective transport of ions. The evolvement of an IEM not only makes the process cleaner and energy-efficient but also recovers useful effluents that are now going to wastes. However ion-exchange membranes with better selectivity, less electrical resistance, good chemical, mechanical and thermal stability are appropriate for these processes. For the development of new IEMs, a lot of tactics have been applied in the last two decades. The intention of this paper is to briefly review synthetic aspects in the development of new ion-exchange membranes and their applications for electrodialysis related processes.