Alriols M., García A., Muñoz V., Serrano L., Labidi J., 2014, Analysis of the Performance of Membrane Ultrafiltration in the Biorefinery by Aspen Plus® Simulation, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 39, 1711-1716.
The liquid fraction obtained from the alkaline fractionation of apple tree pruning was treated in a laboratory scale ultrafiltration plant with different cut-off membranes. The obtained fractions were analyzed and the lignin content was chemically characterized to evaluate the purity of the samples. Furthermore, the system pressure drops were measured (valve, membranes and pipes pressure drops) in order to simulate thesystem using Aspen Plus® software and determine the energy consumption. For the estimation of theprocess economic viability, the system was scaled up and the ultrafiltration cost was evaluated. As a conclusion, it could be stated that the UF process allowed the efficient concentration of the liquid fraction and its fractionation for the lignin separation. The chemical composition of the fractionated lignin samples, especially the lowest molecular size fraction, revealed very little contamination indicating the lignin suitability for higher added value applications, which could support the slightly higher price of the obtained lignin in comparison to the commercial lignin one.
