Adsorption equilibrium of fructose, glucose and sucrose was evaluated on sulfonated poly(styrene-codivinylbenzene) cation-exchange resins. Two types of resins were used: potassium (K+) gel-type and sodium (Na+) macroporous resins. Influence of the cation and effect of the resin structure on adsorption were studied. The adsorption isotherms were determined by the static method in batch mode for monocomponent and multi-component sugar mixtures, at 25 and 40 ◦C, in a range of concentrations between 5 and 250 g L−1. All adsorption isotherms were fitted by a linear model in this range of concentrations. Sugars were adsorbed in both resins by the following order: fructose > glucose > sucrose. Sucrose was more adsorbed in the Na+ macroporous resin, glucose was identically adsorbed, and fructose was more adsorbed in the K+ gel-type resin. Data obtained from the adsorption of multi-component mixtures as compared to the mono-component ones showed a competitive effect on the adsorption at 25 ºC, and a synergetic effect at 40 ºC. The temperature increase conducted to a decrease on the adsorption capacity for mono-component sugar mixtures, and to an increase for the multi-component mixtures. Based on the selectivity results, K+ gel-type resin seems to be the best choice for the separation of fructose, glucose and sucrose, at 25ºC.
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) for the PhD Grant received (reference SFRH/BD/32514/2006).
