CELL RECYCLE PROCESS……..

feed process product

CELL RECYCLE PROCESS….
 A recycle stream is a term denoting a process stream
that returns material from the downstream of a process
unit back to the process.
 Many industrial processes use recycle streams….
 Examples:
 In chemical reactions,exit catalyst is returned to the
reactor for reuse.
 In fractionating columns where part of the distillate is
refluxed back to the column to maintain the quantity of
liquid within the column…
 Because cells are the catalyst in fermentation
processes,it is often advantageous to recycle
biomass from spent fermentation broth.
 Cell cycle requires a seperation device,such as a
centrifuge or gravity settling tank
 The seperation device is to provide a
concentrated recycle stream under asceptic
conditions……
FERMENTER WITH CELL RECYCLE……

Fresh feed
product stream
broth

mixer fermenter settling tank

recycle stream cell concentrate

RECYCLE IN PROCESS WITHOUT CHEMICAL REACTION

 The manufacture of such products as

penicillin,tetracyclin,vitamins ,etc. requires
seperating the suspended solids from their mother
liqor by centrifuging and then drying the wet
cake….
ANTIBIOTICS ARE PREPARED IN BATCH PROCESSES
• At harvest the antibiotics are separated from the
microbial broths.
• The spent broth material is generally not reused, but
rather, is disposed of as a waste effluent.

• Some attempts at reuse of microbial cellular material

have been reported

•in these cases the material was separated from product, treated and introduced as a discrete addition into a subsequent batch fermentation in the initial batch charge.
RECYCLE IN PROCESS WITHOUT CHEMICAL REACTION

Sep
Mix Pro
arat
er cess
or
RECYCLE IN PROCESSESS WITH CHEMICAL REACTION

 When the fresh feed consists of more than one

material ,the conversion must be stated for a
single component,usually the limiting
material,the most expensive compound.
 The feed to process itself is made up of two
streams : fresh feed and the recycled material.
 the gross product leaving the process is seperated
into two streams: the net product and the
material to be recycled.
 The recycle stream may be of the same
composition as that of the gross product stream
…..
 Or it may be different from the gross stream….
 It totally depends on how the seperation took
place and what happens in the process……
ADVANTAGES OF CELL RECYCLE

 1. Increase productivity for biomass production

 2. Increase stability by dampening perturbations of input stream properties
 3. With cell recycle,the critical dilution rate for washout is also increased
allowing greater operating flexibility.
 4. In ethanol fermentation cell recycle can compensate for the decreased growth
and incresed maintenance as ethanol concentration increases.
This is done to keep the micro-organisms viable…….
IMPROVEMENT IN ETHANOL CONCENTRATION

 Ethanol concentrations and fermentor productivities were increased 20.2 and

15.5% at 90 and 95% recycle, respectively.
 When whole soy flour was added to the feed (2 g/l at 90% recycle, and 1 g/l at
95% recycle) of a continuous yeast fermentation system with recycle of cells
and soy flour .
 The improvements were primarily due to increases in cell concentrations.
 Similar results were obtained for batch cultures.
To keep the cell concentration higher than the normal steady state level, cells in the
effluent can be recycled back to the reactor.

MODIFIED BIOREACTORS: CHEMOSTAT

WITH RECYCLE
DIFFERENT WAYS TO RECYCLE THE CELLS INTO THE FERMENTER:

 External biomass feed

 In this a cell seperator such as centrifuge or settling tank is used to concentrate the
biomass leaving the reactor.
 A portion of the concentrate is continuously recycled back to the CSTR with flow rate
F(t) and cell concentration x(t).
 Such systems are majorily used for waste water treatment.
 recycle stream
F(t) product stream

feed stream
F cell seperator
SECOND WAY TO RECYCLE THE CELLS IN THE FERMENTER

 Perfusion culture or internal biomass feedback

 This operating scheme is often used for mammalian cell culture.
 Cell density and therefore the volumetric productivity of these cultures can be increased
by retaining biomass in the reactor while fresh medium is continuously added and spent
borth removed.
 Cells in a perfusion system are physically retained in the vessel by a mechanical device
such as a filter.
 With cell feeedback baecause recycled cells are an additional source of biomass in the
reactor,washout occurs at dilution rates greater than the maximum specific growth rate.