A New Spin Filter for High Density Culture and Ethanol Production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A new spin filter consisting of $50{\mu}m$ (nominal pore size) depth fitters rolled on a stainless steel grid was developed, using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model suspension cell to evaluate the spin filter performance. In a 1.8-1 fermentor with a rotation speed of 300 rpm and perfusion rate of 4 ml/min, a cell concentration of 49 g/l and ethanol concentration of 45 g/l from 100 g/l glucose could be obtained in a perfusion culture. The major mechanisms for cell separation used by the large-pore spin filter appeared to be centrifugal force and pivotal movement of the cells in the spin filter.