BACKGROUNDArabitol has many potential industrial applications and it can be produced by fermentation from glycerol, a major byproduct of biodiesel industry. This work aims at developing a new process for collecting and purifying arabitol from the broth of osmophilic Debaryomyces hansenii containing arabitol, unconsumed glycerol, and other minor impurities. RESULTS: The process developed and optimized in this study had the following steps: first, the broth supernatant was treated with 8gL(-1) activated carbon at 30 degrees C and pH 6 for removal of colored organics and some impurities. Then glycerol was selectively removed by acetone extraction at 30 degrees C. The acetone amount was optimized according to the measured solubility data of simulative glycerol-xylitol-acetone systems and real fermentation broth. The glycerol-removed remainder was next extracted for arabitol with butanol (90% of supernatant volume) at 90 degrees C. White arabitol crystals were collected from the cooled butanol extract. The overall recovery and purity of arabitol crystals were 66% and 95%, respectively. CONCLUSIONSuccessful arabitol purification was achieved with an optimized process. Fundamental phase equilibrium data of glycerol-xylitol-acetone systems were obtained. The process developed would prove valuable for arabitol production and potentially for separation of other polyols. (c) 2012 Society of Chemical Industry