Recovery of insoluble biosynthetic products
AssigneeGenencor International, Inc.
InventorsRichard P. Crowley, Jeffrey M. Gerstner
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Abstract
There is disclosed a process for the recovery of an insoluble fermentation product from a solid phase cell mass, the process comprising treating the fermentation broth to solubilize the cell mass and separating by known methods the liquid phase from the insoluble (product-containing) phase. The solubilization of the cell mass may be carried out by one or mere treatments with an alkali or acid compound or by enzymatic treatment of the cell mass to lyze the cells.
Claims5
A process for recovering indigo from an aqueous fermentation broth comprising a first solid phase containing indigo and a second solid phase containing cell mass, the process consisting of:
- a) contacting the fermentation broth with an alkali selected from the group consisting of potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide and ammonia at a temperature of from about 40.degree. to 100.degree. C. for a period of time sufficient to solubilize at least about 20% of cell mass;
- b) separating the first solid phase containing indigo from the aqueous broth;
- c) resuspending the first solid phase containing indigo with an alkali selected from the group consisting of potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide and ammonia, or an acid selected from the group consisting of phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and perchloric acid, or a combination of said alkali and said acid, at a temperature of from about 40.degree. to 100.degree. C. for an appropriate period of time to solubilize residual cell mass;
- d) separating the first solid phase containing indigo from the aqueous broth;
- and
- e) recovering the indigo from the first solid phase.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.