Acid-salt conversion by means of electrodialysis: Application of the systematic approach to food engineering systems (SAFES) methodology

A study of the acid-salt equilibrium citric acid by means of the SAFES methodology during electrodialysis was performed in order to determined if the fractional composition of the acid forms affects the process due to the predominance of non-dissociated forms. Experiments at constant potential drop, feed and variable current density were performed. Total concentration of acid and its fractional forms were determined. Results showed that even though in the dilution cell, molecules of basic forms, were removed the pH did not decrease. This may indicate that when removing the salt, the acid forms did not predominate and therefore does not affect the process.