Continuous adsorption in food industry: The recovery of sinapic acid from rapeseed meal extract

Efficient recovery and utilization of valuable components from industrial food side streams is a main driver towards a circular economy. Among different available purification techniques, adsorption can effectively recover these components. However, the conventional batch mode of operation can limit its applicability in food processes due to limited efficiency. This work compares conventional batch packed bed adsorption with semi-continuous adsorption (so-called CaptureSMB) for the recovery of sinapic acid at industrial scale, using a food grade resin AmberliteTM FPX66. A mathematical mechanistic model able to describe semi-continuous operation is successfully validated and used to identify optimum operating parameters to maximize productivity and resin capacity utilization in batch and semi-continuous operating modes. The results indicate that CaptureSMB outperforms batch operation, increasing productivity from 5.18 g/L/h to 10.3 g/L/h for a given yield (>97%). A resin capacity utilization (RU) of around 70% is observed in both operating modes when productivity is maximized. A 92% RU can be accomplished for a given yield using the CaptureSMB process at a productivity of 7.0 g/L/h, higher than for conventional batch operation. The use of semi-continuous adsorption operation in food industry contributes to more efficient processes at reduced purification costs.