• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.717-725
• /
• 1996

We have developed an efficient immobilized cell separator for continuous operation of immobilized fungal cell cultures, and applied this separator to actual fermentation process for the production of cyclosporin A (CyA), a powerful immunosuppressant. In the experiments employing highly viscous polymer (carboxymethyl cellulose) solution, the decantor showed good separating performances at high solution viscosites and fast dilution rates. Air duct and cylindrical separator installed inside the decantor turned out to play key roles for the efficient separation of the immobilized cells. By installing the decantor in an immobilized perfusion reactor system (IPRS), continuous immobilized culture was stably carried out even at high dilution rate for a long period, leading to high productivities of free cells and CyA. Almost no immobilized biomass existed in effuluent stream of the IPRS, demonstrating the effectiveness of the decan- tor system for a long-term continuous fermentation. It was noteworthy that we could obtain these results despite of the unfavorable fermentation conditions, i.e., reduced density of the biosupports caused by overgrowth of cells inside the bead particles and existence of high density of suspended fungal cells (10g/l) in the fermentation broth.