Downstream Processing
Downstream processing, what and why
Downstream processing is any treatment
of culture broth after fermentation to
concentrate and purify products.
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Downstream Processing
Crude product
Product recovery Removal of insoluble Cell disruption
Finished
Purify the product Market
product
Cell disruption
• Some product are intracellular including many
enzymes and proteins required to disrupt the cell
and release these products e.g. Yeast
• Cell disruption can be achieved by both
mechanical and non-mechanical methods.
• Mechanical- sonication and liquid shear
homogenization etc
• Non mechanical- autolysis, osmosis shock etc.
Removal of insoluble's
Separation of cells, cell debris or other
particulate matter from fermentation broth
culture.
Filtration
Separation of particles from liquid by applying
a pressure to the solution to force the solution through
a filter. Filters are materials with pores.
Particles larger than the pore size of the
filter are retained by the filter.
Particles smaller than the pore size of the filter pass
through the filter along with the liquid.
Membrane Fraction Technologies
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Nanofiltration
(200 - 700 MW)
Reverse Osmosis
(<200 MW)
Ultrafiltration Micro filtration
(2000 - 50,000 MW) (100,000 MW)
Centrifugation
Centrifugation used to separate particles as
small as 0.1μm diameter and is also suitable
for some liquid-liquid separations.
Higher speed centrifuge are required for the
separation of the smaller particles
Use of the centrifugal force for the separation
of mixtures
Disc stack centrifuge
Coagulation and Flocculation
Coagulation:
Forming semisolid lumps in a liquid.
Flocculation:
Forming woolly cloudlike aggregations.
Product purification
• Removing components with properties similar
to those of the products
Chromatography
• Separates molecules by their chemical and
physical differences
E.g. – adsorption chromatography
• affinity chromatography
• ion exchange chromatography etc.
Gel Filtration Chromatography
dialysis
• These membrane separation techniques are
primarily used for the removal of low molecular
weight solutes and inorganic ions from a
solution
Distillation
• Separating components with different
volatilities. Such as organic solvents , beer, wine
and sprits.
Product Polishing
Final processing steps which end with
packaging of the product in a form that is
stable and easily transportable
Crystallization, concentration and drying
are typical unit operations
Crystallization Process
Liquid Generation of Nucleation:
Mixture Supersaturation Birth of
:Driving force Solid Phase
Final Product Crystal Growth
Crystallization
- by cooling saturated solution
Drying
Drying involves the transfer of heat to the
wet material and removal of the moisture as
water vapor.
Drying Methods
（ 1） Atmospheric drying
（ 2） Vacuum drying (Decompression )
（ 3） Freeze-drying (lyophilization)
（ 4） Spray drying
lyophilization
Freezing the material
Reducing the surrounding pressure and
adding enough heat to allow the frozen
water in the material to sublime directly
from the solid phase to gas.
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