A novel cleaner production process of citric acid by recycling its treated wastewater.

ABSTRACT

In this study, a novel cleaner production process of citric acid was proposed to completely solve the problem of wastewater management in citric acid industry. In the process, wastewater from citric acid fermentation was used to produce methane through anaerobic digestion and then the anaerobic digestion effluent was further treated with air stripping and electrodialysis before recycled as process water for the later citric acid fermentation. This proposed process was performed for 10 batches and the average citric acid production in recycling batches was 142.4±2.1g/L which was comparable to that with tap water (141.6g/L). Anaerobic digestion was also efficient and stable in operation. The average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate was 95.1±1.2% and methane yield approached to 297.7±19.8mL/g TCODremoved. In conclusion, this novel process minimized the wastewater discharge and achieved the cleaner production in citric acid industry.