The engineer designing an ion exchange column operation usually will prefer to work with the simplest kinetic model and linear driving force approximations. The weakness ofthis approach is that any driving force law only regards the momentary exchange rate as a hnction of the solute concentration in the bulk solution and the average concentration in the particle, neglecting the effect of concentration profiles in the particle

n 1850 Thompson['] reported the first ion exchange applications which used naturally occurring clays. However, ion exchange resins have only been used in biochemical and fermentation product recovery since the

Liquid-liquid extraction is a unit operation frequently employed in the pharmaceutical industry, as in many others, for recovery and purification of a desired ingredient from the solution in which it was prepared. Extraction may also be used to remove impurities from a feed stream

must also consider heating andor cooling requirements as well as to deliver the desired head pressure to overcome hydraulic pressure drop. Operating costs must also consider equipment maintenance, cost of cleaning chemicals and labor costs

Cross-flow filtration (CFF) also known as tangential flow filtration is not of recent origin. It began with the development of reverse osmosis (RO) more than three decades ago. Industrial RO processes include desalting of sea water and brackish water, and recovery and purification of some fermentation products. The cross-flow membrane filtration technique was next applied to the concentration and fractionation ofmacromolecules commonly recognized

The theoretical concepts underlying filtration can be applied towards practical solutions in the field. Comprehension of the basic principles is necessary to select the proper equipment for an application. Theory alone, however, can never be the basis for selection of a filter. Filtration belongs to the physical sciences, and thus conclusions must be based on experimental assay. It is, however, helpful in understanding why a slurry is more suitable for one design of filtration equipment than another

Fermentation and Biochemical Engineering Handbook Figure 20. Photograph of radial flow impeller in a baffled tank in the laminar region, made by passing a thin plane of light through the center of the tank

The introduction of fluidfoil impellers, as shown in Fig. 9a through 9f, give a wide variety of mixing conditions suitable for high flow and low fluid shear rates. Fluidfoil impellers use the principles developed in airfoil work in wind tunnels for aircraft. Figure 10a shows what is desirable, which is no form separation of the fluid, and maximum lift and drag coefficients, which is what one is trying to achieve with the fluidfoil impellers. Figure 10b shows

Fluid mixing is essential in fermentation processes. Usually the most critical steps in which mixers are used are in the aerobic fermentation process. However, mixers are also used in many auxiliary places in the fermentation process and there are places also for agitation in anaerobic fermentation steps

A common problem for a biochemical engineer is to be handed a microorganism and be told he has six months to design a plant to produce the new fermentation product. Although this seems to be a formidable task, with the proper approach this task can be reduced to a manageable level. There are many ways to approach the problem of optimization and design of a fermentation process