Ionically conductive materials for energy-efficient succinic acid recovery towards electrified circular bioeconomy

In biorefineries, separation units for extracting valuable products from biomass often constitute a substantial portion of operational costs. Electrifying these separation units, such as through the use of bipolar membrane electrodeionization (BMEDI), has emerged as a key strategy to advance the circular bioeconomy. In this study, an ionically conductive material (ICM) was synthesized via sulfonation reactions under mild conditions and subsequently applied in BMEDI for the energy-efficient recovery of succinic acid. The ICM effectively alleviates the concentration polarization-induced limiting region in BMEDI, resulting in exceptional performance. The ICM-BMEDI system achieved a recovery efficiency of ∼91 %, a current efficiency of ∼90 %, a productivity of ∼0.55 kg/m²/h, and an energy consumption of ∼2.53 kWh per kg of succinic acid. Economic analysis revealed a strong benefit-cost ratio of 4.49 over a 2-year operational period. These findings highlight the potential of integrating ICM-BMEDI in biorefineries to achieve both energy-efficient and cost-effective bioproduction.