Sm. Husson et Cj. King, REGENERATION OF LACTIC AND SUCCINIC ACID-LADEN BASIC SORBENTS BY LEACHING WITH A VOLATILE BASE IN AN ORGANIC-SOLVENT, Industrial & engineering chemistry research, 37(8), 1998, pp. 2996-3005
Leaching with an organic solution of a volatile base was explored as a
method of regenerating tertiary amine and pyridyl sorbents. Experimen
tal data are presented that show that regeneration efficiency correlat
es with the nonaqueous basicity of the regenerant as measured by the G
utmann donicity scale. Essentially complete regeneration of lactic aci
d-laden Dowex MWA-1 was achieved when 8-10 mol of trimethylamine were
present for every mole of adsorbed acid; adequate (>70% regeneration w
as obtained at a 2:1 molar ratio. The; resulting trimethylamine-lactic
acid complex can be thermally decomposed fully when trimethylamine is
employed in an organic solvent instead of in water. A likely cause of
the incomplete thermal decomposition of trimethylammonium lactate in
previous, water-based systems is the aqueous environment in which the
decomposition was performed.