Azeotropic distillation process for producing organic acids or organic acid amides

摘要

Disclosed herein are methods for the recovery of at least one of an organic acid or an organic acid amide, such as a heat stable lactic acid or lactamide, from a feed stream which contains the organic acid and/or organic acid amide. The feed stream is mixed with at least one azeotroping agent. The azeotroping agent is a hydrocarbon capable of forming at least one heteroazeotrope with the organic acid or the organic acid amide in the feed stream. The mixture of the feed stream and the azeotroping agent is heated to produce a vapor stream. The heteroazeotrope is a component of that vapor stream. The vapor stream can be heated further to separate components or it can be condensed into a liquid stream. The liquid stream is capable of being separated into a first phase and a second phase. The first phase contains the highest concentration of the organic acid and/or the organic acid amide and the azeotroping agent is part of the second phase. The liquid stream can be further distilled or, alternatively, the two phases of the liquid stream can be separated. The first phase can be removed from the remainder of the liquid stream resulting in recovery of the organic acid and/or organic acid amide. The recovered organic acid and/or organic acid amide can be further purified and/or concentrated from the first phase.