Abstract
The effects of operating pressure, lactate concentration, impurities, and pH on solution flux and lactate rejection in nanofiltration were investigated with model sodium lactate solutions (lactate 10~200g/L) as a model system. In the tested range of pressure(80~140 psig), the solution flux was observed to be proportional to the operating pressure and the rejection of lactate increased only slightly with the pressure. Both of the flux and the rejection decreased with lactate concentration, while the recovery rate of lactate increased. The effects of glucose and yeast extract as impurities on lactate rejection were negligible, but the flux decreased significantly with the addition of yeast extract. At low lactate concentrations, the rejection of lactate increased with pH due to the increased repulsion (Donnan exclusion effect) between lactate ions and membrane surface. But, at high lactate concentrations, the donnan effect was observed to be overwhelmed by the effect of sodium ions added to adjust the pH, and the rejection of lactate decreased with pH. When fermentation broth containing about 89g/L of lactate was nanofiltered, the flux and the rejection of lactate were 2.8L/$m^2$h and 5%, respectively at 120psig. Both of them were slightly lower than those with model solutions. The recovery rate was 2.6mol/$m^2$h.
