Succinic acid (including salts) can produce sourness and taste, and can be used in soybean paste, soy sauce, Japanese sake, and seasonings. Sodium succinate is a white crystalline powder with a special taste of shellfish. It is used in the food industry as a flavoring agent, sour agent, buffer, and used in ham, sausage, aquatic products, and flavoring liquids. Succinic acid can be used as preservatives, pH regulators, cosolvents; it can also be used to synthesize antidote, diuretics, tranquilizers, hemostatic agents, synthetic antibiotics, vitamin A, vitamin B, etc. As an ion chelating agent, succinic acid is used to prevent metal corrosion and pitting in the electroplating industry; succinic acid is a good surfactant and a component of detergents, soaps and demulsifiers; succinic acid can Production of hair removal agents, toothpastes, cleaning agents, and high-efficiency wrinkle-removing cosmetic esters. Succinic acid is also used in lubricants, additives, and elastomers. In textile processing, it can be sizing to prevent shrinkage and improve dyeability. Improve caprolactam viscosity and fire resistance, etc.
In the pharmaceutical industry, it can be used to produce sulfa drugs, vitamin A, vitamin B and other anticonvulsants, sputum relaxants, diuretics and hemostatic drugs. As a chemical reagent, it can be used as a standard reagent, buffer, and gas chromatographic contrast sample for alkali dosing. It can also be used as a raw material for lubricants and surfactants.
Market: At present, the sales volume of industrial-grade succinic acid exceeds 15,000 tons, which is mainly produced by petrochemical methods from butane through maleic anhydride. Only succinic acid in the food market is produced by fermentation. The new fermentation process can reduce the sales price of succinic acid to US$2.20/kg (annual production of 5,000t); when the annual output was 75,000 tons, its sales price will be lower than US$0.55/kg, which can make succinic acid open The new commercial chemical market. The U.S. Department of Energy has invested 7 million US dollars in research on the industrialization of succinic acid fermentation production. There are four main markets for succinic acid: the largest market is for surfactants, detergent additives and foaming agents; the second market It is used as an ion chelating agent to prevent metal corrosion and pitting corrosion in the electroplating industry; the third market is used as an acidulant, PH improver, flavor substance and antibacterial agent in the food industry; the fourth market is related to health Of the products, including the production of medicines, antibiotics, amino acids and vitamins. The total volume of these four markets for succinic acid exceeds $400 million per year.
Bio-based succinic acid is a new generation of bio-based new materials developed in the 21st century. After years of development, it has been widely used in the following areas:
1. The main raw material for the production of food additives such as sodium glutamate, sodium succinate, food preservation, condiments, spices, etc.
2, the necessary raw materials for the synthesis of biodegradable plastic PBS, PBST and PBSA.
3. The main raw material for the production of succinimide, nylon 54 and other polymer materials.
4. The main raw material for the production of clothing bio-fiber materials.
5. Auxiliary raw materials for the production of surfactant products.
6. Auxiliary raw materials for the production of polyester products such as polyurethane and polyether.
There are many industrial manufacturing methods, mainly as follows:
1. Oxidation method, paraffin wax is deeply oxidized to generate a mixture of various carboxylic acids, and then succinic acid can be obtained after separation steps such as steam distillation and crystallization.
2. Hydrogenation method, maleic anhydride or fumaric acid is hydrogenated under the action of a catalyst to generate succinic acid, which is then separated to obtain the finished product. The catalyst is nickel or noble metal, and the reaction temperature is about 130-140°C.
3. Acrylic acid carbonyl synthesis method, acrylic acid and carbon monoxide will generate succinic acid under the action of a catalyst. Not yet industrialized.
4. Electrolytic oxidation method, phthalic anhydride, sulfuric acid and water are electrolyzed in a ceramic electrolytic cell at a ratio of 1:0.5:4 to obtain succinic acid. The raw material for electrolysis synthesis is maleic acid or maleic anhydride, the anion and anolyte are dilute sulfuric acid, separated by a cation membrane, the anode and the anode are generally made of lead plates, usually synthesized in a plate-and-frame electrolytic cell.
5. Acetylene method, acetylene reacts with carbon monoxide and water in the presence of [Co(CO)4] catalyst in an acidic medium to obtain succinic acid. The reaction temperature is 80-250°C and the pressure is 2.94-49.03MPa.
6. Emerging fermentation method. Compared with traditional chemical methods, the production of succinic acid by microbial fermentation has many advantages: the production cost is competitive; the use of renewable agricultural resources including carbon dioxide as raw materials avoids dependence on petrochemical raw materials; and reduces the environmental impact of chemical synthesis processes.