Abstract
AbstractThe removal of cellular material from fermentation broths is of importance in many fermentation processes. The present work compares the performance of recently developed polyelectrolyte flocculating additives with traditionally available additives. Objectives are to establish criteria for the choice of a flocculating additive and establish optimum conditions for the formation of stable, fast settling floe, and for quantitative separation of cellular material from the medium. Fermentation broths of actively growing Candida intermedia were used to evaluate the effectiveness of fifty commercial flocculating additives at different dosages and pH values. Certain strong anionic and strong cationic polyelectrolytes and mineral hydrocolloids were found to be most effective in their enhancement of settling rates. Some differences in behavior exist between glucose grown cells, hydrocarbon grown cells, and washed cells in buffer suspension. Flocculation of cells from fermentation broths is concluded to be highly dependent upon adsorbed material. A high charge density to interact or compete with adsorbed material and a solubility in the adsorbed material are important factors in choosing an additive for a given application. The fluid mechanics of a flocculating suspension is an important variable since low shear does not provide adequate contacting between cells for floe formation and high shear leads to floe breakup. An apparatus was constructed to grow floe under constant fluid mechanical conditions both in laminar and turbulent flow regimes. Turbulent shear was found to be very important in forming large, compact floe in cases where irreversible ionic bridging is the mechanism as for the strong anionic polyelectrolyte, polystyrene sulfonate. Adequate mixing is required to disperse the flocculating additive, but the level of turbulence is relatively unimportant in cases where reversible colloidal bridging is the mechanism as for the mineral hydrocolloid, bentonite.
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