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US 4,204,042 AGranted
Method of gasifying and agitating a fermentation culture
AssigneeSociete Anonyme S.E.T.R.I.C.
InventorRene Chelle
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AssigneeSociete Anonyme S.E.T.R.I.C.
InventorRene Chelle
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for enabling a micro-organism culture to be gasified and agitated so as to accelerate its growth. The culture is contained in a fermenter which comprises two containers C.sub.1 and C.sub.2 which communicate with one another in their upper and lower regions. The method consists of injecting sterile air in the form of bubbles discontinuously at the base of one C.sub.1 of the containers with injection periods of predetermined length alternating with non-injection periods at a predetermined frequency. This sequential infeed of air produces a surging or pulsating effect in the culture which, for a given consumption of air, very considerably increases the density of micro-organism achieved at the end of a given period of time. The invention is applicable to the cultivation of all aerobic micro-organisms:cells, fungi, bacteria, etc.
A method of gasifying and agitating a micro-organism culture to enable the growth of the culture to be accelerated, said culture being contained in a fermenter comprising at least two containers in communication with one another in their upper and lower regions, the method comprising injecting air in the form of bubbles at the base of one of the containers during injection periods of predetermined length, and stopping the air injection for establishing non-injection periods at a predetermined frequency alternating with said injection periods, so as to produce in the two containers a surging or pulsating effect on the culture and permit a general flow between the two containers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.