A novel approach to recover succinic acid from fermentation broth via acidification and esterification in ethanol is presented. Acid salts from fermentation are placed in ethanol along with a slight stoichiometric excess of sulfuric acid. Simultaneous acidification and esterification take place, with the inorganic sulfate salt formed precipitating out of the ethanol solution. The succinate is recovered as a solution of free succinic acid, monoethyl succinate, and diethyl succinate in ethanol, a mixture suitable for further esterification via reactive distillation. Recoveries of succinate species in excess of 95% were obtained for both model succinate salt solutions and for actual fermentation broth mixtures. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.