Mechanical process engineering in a new field of application

In March 2019, the EUROPURE MechanoSort subproject came to an end at iTN, a subproject of the ERDF-funded research project, which aimed to develop a continuous process for separating cell nuclei from animal tissue using classical mechanical engineering methods for further processing in biotechnology.

With this subproject, the iTN’s Process Development project group moved beyond its traditional focus on recycling and soil remediation and embarked on an exciting foray into the field of bioprocess engineering.

After characterizing the biogenic materials (Figure 1), various density separation methods were investigated. For turbulent hydro-cross-flow sorting, a hydrocyclone was designed and manufactured in collaboration with the company EUROIMMUN in Rennersdorf specifically for this application. Various laboratory centrifuges were tested as part of the centrifugal separation process. The result of these developments is now a continuous process in a decanter centrifuge. The results of the various process stages are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 for the first and third purification steps, respectively. The product “Pellet 3” is subsequently further purified and processed by the project partners.

A particular technical challenge was scaling up from the laboratory scale—with volumes of a few milliliters—to a scale where volumes of several liters are processed.

The iTN laboratory now has a decanter centrifuge from Lemitec (Figure 4) at its disposal. This centrifuge can process flow rates of 30 l/h, and its dimensions and specifications meet the requirements for technical use, allowing the results obtained in the laboratory to be transferred to practical applications. Project funds were also used to purchase a laser diffraction spectrometer with a wet dispersion unit and a flow potentiometer. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Technical Purchasing Department and the Project Management Department for their constructive and goal-oriented collaboration.

This subproject is part of a collaborative project with the Molecular Biotechnology Section of the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences and the company EUROIMMUN Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG.