Sarcosine is a high-value fine chemical which has many significant applications. Now there is a separation process to remove the inorganic salts from the target product during the production of sarcosine. Multistage fractional crystallization is the conventional separation technology for sarcosine production which has many drawbacks such as high energy consumption

large consumption of chemicals and environmental pollution. To achieve cleaner production of sarcosine

a self-made electrodialysis stack was used in the separation and purification of the target product. The influences of current density and initial pH value in the feed solution on the production of sarcosine were investigated. Results indicated that salt removal rates higher than 99% and a product recovery ratio of 71.5% can be obtained at a current of 2 A and initial feed solution of pH 6.5. The total energy consumption for sarcosine production was 26.4 kW·h·t-1 and the total process cost was estimated at 311 ￥·t-1

which is much less than the conventional separation technologies. It can be seen that electrodialysis is not only energy-saving but also environment-friendly for the industrial production of sarcosine.