10 ways to improve your bio-based chemical plant – Alfa Laval

7. Choose the right highspeed separators

High-speed separators are critical components in several steps in bio-based chemical production, for example microbial cell removal.

The efficiency of your high-speed separators affects your yield a great deal, and it is essential that they deliver peak performance.

Therefore you must choose high-speed separators that are matched to your specific operating conditions. Factors such as the concentration of cells and impurities in the fermentation broth, if the fermentation is performed by yeast cells or bacteria, viscosity, density and the properties of the chemical you are producing must be analysed when choosing high-speed separators.

Alfa Laval offers a wide range of high-speed separators, including hermetically sealed models. This means we can always help you find the perfect equipment for your process.

Yeast requires a much smaller clarification area

One factor that affects separation a great deal is the size of the cells performing the fermentation. Yeast cells are roughly 6-8 times larger than bacteria and are therefore much easier to separate out from the fermentation broth.

During the research phase, it is sometimes possible to choose whether you are going to develop a process based on yeast or bacteria. If you have this opportunity, you should choose yeast rather than bacteria to cut separation costs.

With yeast you need less separation equipment, which will save both investment and operating costs. For example, if you need to process 100 m3 fermentation broth per hour, you need one high-speed separator if you are running a yeast-based process. If you are using bacteria, you will instead need 6-10 high-speed separators (with a similar clarification area).

Since high-speed separators rotate at high speeds both power consumption and service costs need to be considered. So if you can get the job done using one separator instead of ten you will make large cost savings over the lifetime of the equipment.