Research Information System
Journal of the Indian Chemical Society, vol.102, no.5, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
Malic acid (H2mA), which is one of the dicarboxylic acids, plays a vital role in the food industry. In this extraction study, the separation of malic acid from its aqueous medium using an effective solvent-extractant mixture was investigated. This article aims to emphasize the efficacy of ionic liquids (IL), which are green solvents especially 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMIM-PF6) against conventional solvents. Some of these solvents are methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), toluene, cyclohexyl acetate (CHA), 1-decanol, dimethyl phthalate (DMP). Tri-n-propylamine (TPA) and tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) were used as extractants in the experiments. The distribution coefficient (D), extraction efficiency (E%), and loading factor (Z) were calculated. In the physical extraction experiments, the extraction efficiency was observed to be in the range of 43.30–47.67 %. The reactive extraction results showed that high extraction efficiency was obtained with organic phases prepared with TPA and diluent. The extraction efficiency reached around 99 % at a TPA concentration of 1.78 mol.L−1 in MIBK. Although the results with conventional solvents and BMIM-PF6 are close to each other, it can be stated that the high regeneration capacity and low volatility of ionic liquids may be the reason for preference compared to conventional solvents.