HU210243B - Fermentor with bearing lubricating device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a fermenter having a bearing structure. The fermenter according to the invention is provided with a mixing shaft, a mixing element, an axle bearing bearings, an air mixing tube, an aeration device, a pipe coil. The fermenter is characterized in that it has a bearing assembly (6) having a vertical conveying section (8) with a tent (10) terminating in the funnel (11), and a bearing tube (9) connected to the vertical conveyor section (8). with an angle of 95-180 ° to the vertical. EN 210 243 B Description scope: 6 pages (including 2 sheets)

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fermenter having a bearing lubrication device.

The large breeding vessels commonly used in the fermentation industry must meet a wide variety of needs. Occasionally, fermenters with a volume of 100-200 m ³ should be capable of sterile operation, steam sterilization, sterile air supply, controlled temperature, pH, pressure.

Specialized fittings, structural solutions, structural materials, auxiliary equipment make industrial fermenters suitable for the above tasks.

In the fermentor, the processes take place at the interfaces of the heterogeneous phases.

The fermenter has three phases; the solution, the cell and the air. Most of the air reaches the cell through the solution. It depends on good oxygen supply, aeration and simultaneous mixing.

Ventilation is provided in the lower part of the unit to ensure aeration.

The mixer of the device also plays a vital role in ensuring aeration. The agitation, by dispersing the introduced air, multiplies the rate of dissolution of the available oxygen. Stirring is also essential for efficient cooling and homogeneity of the fermentation broth.

Béla Kassan et al: Technology Π. (Technical Publisher, 1984) 270-281. She. describes various types of fermenters and their aeration.

In the case of large units, not only a sole bearing, but also a bearing integrated in the middle height of the device, provides stable guidance of the mixer shaft. In the case of such devices, the operation of the mixer is conditional on lubrication of the support bearing by the fermentation broth.

The most advanced fermentation technologies are so-called feed technologies where only biomass is propagated in the first part of the process. In practice, feeding begins at the end of this first phase, whereby the continuous addition of a more concentrated nutrient medium synthesizes the product to produce the mass already formed. The volume of the first growth phase, together with the useful volume of the fermenter, limits the amount of culture medium that can be administered in the second productive addition phase.

Thus, in the case of large fermenters with a prop bearing, the feed quantity is also indirectly limited by the position of the prop bearing, since the volume of the propagation medium must be at least sufficient to lubricate the prop bearing.

Thus, the improvement of the ratio between the propagation and the dosing phases allows the fermentation to be provided with a greater amount of substrate, which ultimately provides an opportunity to increase the yield.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a fermenter for improving the ratio of propagation and dispensing phases.

In the design of the fermentor according to the invention, it has been sought to lubricate the agitator shaft of the fermenter not only by raising the level of the fermentation medium but also by providing a specially designed bearing lubricant.

The bearing lubricant structure is based on the principle that a bubble-rich fermentation medium can be "withdrawn" from the fermenter than the fermentation medium itself and this bubble-rich medium behaves like a high pressure fluid to provide lubrication of the shaft bearing.

In addition, the use of a separate bearing lubricant structure allows the amount of starter broth to be reduced and thus the time of the first stage of fermentation to be reduced and shortened.

However, the amount of fermented broth fed in the fermentor according to the invention may be higher than the same volume of known fermentor without bearing lubricant structure, thus increasing the capacity of the fermentor.

The fermentor according to the invention is provided with a stirring shaft, a stirring element, shaft bearing bearings, air inlet pipe, aeration device, pipe coil.

The fermenter is characterized in that it has a bearing lubrication structure having a vertical conveying section having a funnel ending in a funnel, while a vertical lubricating tube is connected to the vertical conveying section by an angle of 95-180 ° with the vertical.

The fermenter according to the invention is shown in Figure 1 and the bearing lubrication structure is shown in detail in Figure 2.

The fermenter shown in Fig. 1 is provided with a mixing shaft 1 having a mixing element 7 which is located in the axis of symmetry of the fermenter. The agitator shaft 1 is supported by the support bearing 2. A temperature adjusting snake is located inside the fermenter.

The fermenter is provided with an air inlet pipe terminating in the aeration structure 5. The air inlet pipe 4 is formed parallel to the mixing shaft 1.

1 and 2 illustrate the bearing lubricant structure 6 for lubricating the fermenter support bearing 2. The structure has a vertical conveying section 8, which is provided with lower and lateral tentacles 10 which terminate in the tentacle funnel 11. Preferably, the number of tentacles 10 is two, but the fermenter works well with a single tentacle.

A bearing lubrication tube 9 is connected to the vertical conveying section, which forms an angle of 95-180 ° C with the vertical conveying section 8.

The bearing lubricator 6 can provide good lubrication of the bearing 2 by suctioning the fermentation broth more enriched with air bubbles with the help of its tentacle 10 than the fermentation broth itself. This "high pressure" fluid flows at high speed in the vertical conveying section 8 and passes through the bearing lubricating tube 9 to the support bearing 2.

The bearing lubricating tube 9 must not be water level2

EN 210 243 Β because then the fermentation broth would "stagnate", which would impair sterility and sterilization itself.

An advantage of the fermentor according to the invention is that the ratio of the first fermented juice can be reduced and the amount of fermented juice fed can be increased without the loss of lubrication of the agitator shaft of the fermenter.

The operation of the bearing lubricant does not require any additional energy investment.

By using a bearing lubricant, the capacity of the fermentor according to the invention can be increased and the sterility of the fermentor can be enhanced.

The presence of the bearing lubricant does not in any way interfere with the fermentation process.

The fermenter according to the invention and the process of its fermentation are described in the following example.

Example

L-lysine for feed is prepared by fermentation.

Corn jam and molasses-based fermentation broth is fed to a 240 m ³ fermenter at a flow rate of 501 / min. The mixing shaft is 10 m long and the support bearing is 5 m from the bottom of the unit. The device has a bearing lubrication device which contains two tentacles. The tentacles end in a tentacle funnel 300 mm (maximum) in diameter.

By introducing air into the fermentor, the pressure in the fermentor is higher than atmospheric.

In the first stage of fermentation 65 m ^{3 of} fermentation broth is fed, while in the second stage (in the feed stage) we can feed 109 m ³ .

As a control, L-lysine was prepared in the same manner in a 240 m ³ fermenter without a bearing lubricant.

In this case, 90 m ^{3 of} fermentation broth must be fed to the first stage of the fermentation in order to ensure lubrication of the support bearing. Thus, only 84 m ^{3 of} fermentation broth can be fed into the fermentor during the feed stage.

Comparing the production in the two fermentors, it was found that an 8% increase in production was achieved with the use of a bearing lubricator according to the invention.

Claims (2)

PATENT CLAIMS 1. A fermenter having a bearing lubrication structure having a mixing shaft disposed in the axis of symmetry of the fermenter, a mixing element and bearings supporting the mixing shaft, and an air mixing tube and associated aeration device parallel to the mixing shaft, and having a temperature adjusting coil, the vertical conveying section (8) of the bearing lubrication device (6) is provided at the bottom with a tongue (10) terminating in a funnel (11), while at the top the vertical conveying section (8) is connected to a bearing lubricating pipe (9) °. Fermenter according to Claim 1, characterized in that the bearing lubricant structure (6) is provided with two troughs in the funnel (11).