Continuous fermentation process
AssigneeAlfa-Laval AB
InventorLars Karl Johan Ehnstrom
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Wort is continuously supplied to a circuit including an elongated closed channel and through which micro-organisms are fed. After fermentation has taken place in the circuit, the mixture of wort and micro-organisms is centrifuged to separate it into fermented wort, a living cell mass and impurities, these three components being separately discharged from the centrifuge. The separate discharges of fermented wort and living cell mass are continuous, and the latter discharge includes an excess of living cells formed in the circuit, an amount of cell mass corresponding to this excess being discharged from the circuit.
Claims8
In carrying out continuous fermentation in a wort substrate, the method which comprises feeding a flow of micro-organisms in a circuit including an elongated closed channel, continuously supplying wort to said circuit, subjecting the mixture of wort and micro-organisms to a centrifugal separating operation after fermentation has taken place in the circuit, thereby separating said mixture into three components, namely, fermented wort, a living cell mass and impurities, separately discharging said impurities component from the centrifugal separating operation, and continuously and separately discharging from the separating operation said fermented wort component and said living cell mass including living cells formed in said circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.