Development Of The VcNa Conversion Process Using New Continuous Ion Exchange Technology

Vitamin C is one of essential micronutrients of people. During synthesizing vitamin C, the conversion process from sodium ascorbate to vitamin C is an important step. The traditional conversion processes from sodium ascorbate to vitamin C, such as sulfuric acidification method and traditional ion exchange method, have a lot of disadvantages. The continuous ion exchange technology developed by AST Inc. has many advantages. And it has been used in many fields and runs well. The ion exchange experiments of sodium ascorbate were done. The results show that it is feasible to use the technology into the conversion process. At the same time, it consumes less resins, water and regenerants than the traditional ones. According to the results, a new process is developed.According to the results of the experiment, the total yield of Vitamin C of this step is more than 99.5%. At the same condition, continuous ion exchange system can save 73% of water, 89% of resins and 33.5% hydrochloride. The manufacturing costs of this step will be reduced. This study put forward reconstructive scheme for the conversion process of sodium ascorbate according to the results of the experiment. The scale of equipment, the pressure and the flow of each valves are designed and calculated in this article.