Waterless Food Grade Lactic Acid?

Well there's simple baking and/or vacuum vapor pumping to boil off the water. But I kind of doubt that an individual can do this cheaper at home than a factory can. The only thing you could hope to save is some of the profit that the company makes.

This does beg the question though, why do you want the crystalline powder form of lactic acid? Part of the value that you're getting by buying the refined powder is that you have the manufacturer's skill in preventing this from becoming contaminated during crystallization.

Well, how much do you require? That 88% starter material is a commercial grade material with a lot of added material, (water, assorted organics etc).

To purify it, one might select a semi-permeable membrane and force it through under pressure (reverse osmosis). This will strip of most larger organics and ions but not water.

The water can then be removed by vacuum concentration where you boil off the water under vacuum into a cold trap, taking care to use a low enough temperature that the lactic acid or other materials that are present are not thermolyzed. For lab scale, this is easy. The material should crystalize on cooling. You may also be able to make it crystallize by the addition of a precipitating agent, a liquid that is miscible with water that forces the lactic acid out, you then wash it with that liquid and dry it.

You would have to look to see what this liquid would be The literature should help here

You are comparing food grade, which is typically the cheapest, most impure grade with ultra-pure grade, which is the purest and most expensive.

If you would explain what you are trying to do, it would help.

If you are looking at trying to make money from simply purifying the cheap material, it's possible, but not cheap.

Ultra-pure grade is very expensive because it is typically extremely purified, which can be very expensive. Often more expensive than the purification is the testing and certification that a material undergoes. Typically "ultra-pure" means that it contains minimum amounts of specific trace contaminants. Performing these specific tests is often more expensive than the purification.

The other reason that "ultra-pure" grade is so expensive, is that there is very little market for it. Labs may need the quality, but use only tiny quantities, so the cost is not a significant factor..

Thanks, folks, for the helpful and interested responses!

For the record, the application is not that demanding puritywise (as long as the material in question is not overtly toxic); just wanted to reduce the amount of water in a small amount of the stuff for test blending with other ingredients which would be better off in a lower-H₂O mix

However, I now have a clue as to how I can give the project a quick whirl with the 88% first; and back into the lower water stuff as may be needed. Thanks to your tips here, I now have what I need to move me along that path as necessary.

Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all . . .

Insatiably_Curious