Separation of 2,3-Butylene Glycol and Acetoin in Fermented Cheese Whey Permeate by Liquid Column Chromatography
The supply of crude oil contained within the earth's crust is finite. This has spurred interest in finding alternative sources of petroleum-derived feedstock chemicals. One possible alternative chemical is 2,3-butylene glycol (2,3-butanediol). While use of 2,3-butylene glycol could relieve pressure on consumption of petroleum-derived feedstocks, the economics of producing 2,3-butylene glycol by fermentation are still cost prohibitive. One of the main reasons for this is the high cost of recovering the 2,3-butylene glycol from the aqueous fermentation broth. The research presented here involves utilizing a low cost liquid column chromatographic operation for separating 2,3-butylene glycol and acetoin (another major by-product of the fermentation), in fermented cheese whey permeate. Due to their similarities, acetoin (2-hydroxy-3-butanone) and 2,3-butanediol have been difficult to separate in the past. Studies showed that these compounds could be easily separated using the chromatographic procedure developed in this research. The procedure involves "pre-washing" the column with an inexpensive solvent (aqueous sodium borate solution), and eluting samples with distilled and deionized water. Plain tap water was also shown to work equally well as the eluent.
Agriculture, Food Science and Technology
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign