The amino acids constitute a significant class in biochemical sciences. Of this importance, their extraction and purification do not cease developing with the sight of research in progress.
Our work concerns a comparative study by two techniques liquid-liquid extraction (ELL) and supported liquid membrane (SLM), of phenylalanine (phe) and tyrosine (tyr). Several extractants were the subject of this study, the di 2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA), the tri-octy phosphine oxide (TOPO), the tri-butyl phosphate (TBP) and the quaternary ammonium salt Aliquat 336 and “D2EHPA+TBP” mixture. The results showed that the D2EHPA, is high performance in ELL of phe (82%) and tyr (23.4%). Mixture “D2EHPA+TBP”, produced a synergistic effect on phe (73.5%) by ELL. The extraction by SLM of phe (feed solution 36.4%, stripping 100%) and of tyr (feed solution 2,4%; stripping 5.6%) by TBP, shows that this technique is powerful, to separate the mixture from these two amino acids in one extraction stage. The effects of solvents and salt were also tested; however the optimization of these processes remains to be perfected.
