Bakers Yeast Production BEng Design Project Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University

M.Alwazir(Chair), M.Hardcastle, A.Mohamed, A.Sau(Secretary), D.Zarbo April-May 20011

Contents
1 Summary 2 Production of Bakers Yeast 2.1 Process Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Block Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Process Science 3.1 Bakers Yeast . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Growth Kinetics . . . 3.1.2 Cell Requirements . . 3.2 Growth Medium Formulation 3.3 Oxygen Demand . . . . . . . 3.4 Environmental Conditions . . 3.5 Sterilisation . . . . . . . . . . 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 7 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 14 14 14 15 15 15 16 17 18 18 18 19 19 19 19 20 22 22 22 23 23 24 24 24 25

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4 Process Design 4.1 Production Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Modes of operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Batch Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Fed-batch Culture . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Process selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Nutrient preperation . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Innoculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.3 Fermentaion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.4 Seperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.5 Decanter Centrifuge . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.6 Disc Stack Centrifuge . . . . . . . . . 4.3.7 Tubular Bowl Centrifuge . . . . . . . . 4.3.8 Drying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.9 Wastewater treatment . . . . . . . . . 4.3.10 Anaerobic digestion . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.11 Compound Fractioning and Recovery 4.3.12 O-site treatment . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Process Flow Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Equipment Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.1 Steriliser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.2 Fermenters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.3 Centrifuge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.4 Centrifuge Design . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.5 Fluidised Bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 Process Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.1 Fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.2 Centrifuge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7 Piping and Instrumentation Diagram . . . . . 4.8 Equipment Specication Sheets . . . . . . . . 4.9 Plant Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10 Start Up/Shut Down Procedures . . . . . . .

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5 Safety 5.1 Maintenance . 5.2 Sta Safety . . 5.3 Material Safety 5.4 Process Safety . 5.5 General Safety 5.6 HAZOP . . . .

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6 Process Economics 29 6.1 Capital Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 6.2 Operating Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 7 Conclusion 8 References 29 29

Summary

The report includes a full plant specication for the annual production of 2,500 tonnes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a single cell protein commercially known as Bakers yeast. In specications of the plant were based on economical, process control and product quality considerations to achieve a cheap food-grade quality product which could be sold for commercial and non-commercial use. The safety of operation was also considered, although proved not to have a signicant impact on the process design. The production begins by inocculation of a ATCC 4126 strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, chosen for having the highest specic growth rate (0.54 hr1 , in the presencse of a growth medium containing glucose, nitrogen compounds and other essential nutients. Once the cell culture reaches the required mass of 3.5kg, it then passes through ve fermentation stages, with a total of 9 fed-batch fermenter vessels in order to achieve a nal production of 54,136kg per batch. The yeast culture is then seperated and dried in order to produce 30 percent active dry yeast and 70 percent compressed yeast.

Production of Bakers Yeast

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or Bakers yeast has been used for many years in the baking industry, mainly due to its dough-leavening characteristics. Bakers yeast metabolises sugars, and produces CO2 which causes the dough leavening and contributes to the avour and crumb structure of the bread. S. cerevisiae is a glucose-sensitive yeast, which exhibits aerobic ethanol production in the presence of excess glucose. It is for this reason they are also used in the manufacturing of alcoholic beverages. There are range of types of Bakers yeast products which can be made industrially, including cream yeast, compressed yeast and active dry yeast. Compressed yeast, which is similar to cream yeast with most of the moisture removed tends to be used in bulk for commerical use, while active dry is sold for noncommerical baking and is the form of yeast which is available in supermarkets.

2.1 2.2

Process Overview Stages

Inoculation The rst stage of the process, a Sterilisation Fermentation Seperation Drying Wastewater Treatment

2.3

Block Diagram

Process Science

The design requirements of a suitable fermentation process are based on the specic needs of the living yeast culture. This includes providing the essential resources as well as replicating the necessary environmental conditions to encourage cellular reproduction.

3.1

Bakers Yeast

Members of the kingdom fungi, Bakers yeast is the commercial name for yeast strains of the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which single cell organisms which have lost the ability of mycellial growth. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells reproduce by budding, when a single cell referred to as the mother cell reproduces a second cell attached to itself. The daughter cell, when fully developed, detaches from the mother and may then reproduce its own bud. The original mother cell may also undergo further cycles of reproduction leading to the cell culture growing at an exponential rate which is the basis of the growth kinetics. [Industrial microbiology page 19] When refering to the growth rate, this is with regard to the growth of the overall population of the culture rather than the growth of each individual cells. However, when refering to the cell concentration within the growth medium it is with regards to the mass of the entire culture. Single cell organisms undergo both anabolic and catabolic metabolism (ie the cells use energy to grow and shrink in size) but these process will not signicantly aect the overall mass of the culture[aspects of yeast metabolism]. In order to obtain the high mass of yeast cells which is specied in this production an extremely large population is required. A high yield of cells which are actively reproducing until the desired culture mass is reached is required by this process. Cellular reproduction should therefore be encouraged as much as possible.

3.1.1

Growth Kinetics

An understanding of the growth kinetics of a microbial culture is important when designing a suitable fermentation process. Modelling the cultural growth is a nessecery step before selecting mode of operation, process set-up, equipment selection and control philosophy. Yeast cell are single cell organisms which multiply by rst forming bubs that enlarge until they almost equal the size of the mother cell. Nuclear division then occurs forming a cross wall before the daughter cell breaks o. After the culture has been inoculated, and before the yeast culture begins to grow, there is a period of zero growth, during which time the cells adapt to the new environment. The lag phase can slow down down production and its length should be reduced as much as possible by using a suitable inoculum, and choosing suitable equipment and operating condition. Under favourable conditions a growing unicellular organism population doubles at regular intervals. Each of the two daughter cells produced by a division have the same potential for growth as the mother cell. At rst cells tend to divide at fairly regular times known as synchrony and growth rate gradually increases. Then minor dierences in the cell reproduction time add up and growth occurs in an exponential fashion. This is called the exponential growth phase, which can be descibed by the equation dx = x dt where x is the concentration of microbial mass, t is time(hours), and is the specic growth rate in hours1 . The stationary phase occurs when cells have exhausted the nutrients required for growth, they utilise all the space that is available, or they may also die due to an accumulation of toxic substance, a by product of their own activity which has led to their environment being inhospitable. The production of the toxic by-products may depend on the resources and conditions. In the case of yeast cells, the presence of oxygen in the growth medium will enable the cell to respire aerobically. If the medium did not have enough oxygen for the entire cell culture to respire aerobically, then some cells would begin anaerobic respiration. In yeast cells a product of anaerobic respiration is ethanol. The ethanol is toxic to the culture and its production in the process should be limited to zero in order to obtain the highest growth rate of yeast. Once the stationary phase of growth has been reached the cell culture needs to be moved to a larger environment which will meet the space and nutrient requirements of a larger population in order to continue growth. If the cell culture has reached the desired mass then it should be extracted and exploited at this point. Operating the process into the stationary phase with no growth will be wasteful of raw materials and energy. As the growth rate is limited by the presence of nutrients, the decrease in growth rate leading to the stationary phase may be modelled by experimentation with a range of substrate concentrations. The growth may be described in relationship to the growth limiting substrate by the following equation (Monod, 5

1942): =

max s Ks + s

where s is the residual substrate concentration, Ks is the substrate utilisation constant(numerically equal to the substrate concentration when is half max and is a measure of the anity of the cell for its substrate.// The specic growth rate for Saccharomyces cerevisiae was found to be XX.XX.(Ref) where glucose was the rate-limiting substrate. 3.1.2 Cell Requirements

The cells will only reproduce when they have the essential resources and suitable conditions. It is important to consider in designing a suitable process set-up that the single cells are limited at the rate at which they can reproduce. Underfeeding the cells will lead to a reduced growth rate, while overfeeding the cells will not increase the growth but in fact will also reduce the growth due also. This is due to the increase in other metabolic activity which will lead to the production of ethanol which is undesirable and will reduce the production rate, which will be discussed further later. It is therefore essential to feed the culture with a growth medium amounts of nutrients in order to make a growth medium that will promote optimum rate of cellular reproduction will limiting the production of undesired products to zero.

Carbon S.Cerevisiae cell are chemo-organotrophs which means they cannot utilise energy from light and must therefore use sources of chemical energy to sustain life and perform the metabolic activity which leads to cellular reproduction. The cells also require carbon as it comprises around fty percent of the cell composition. Carbohydrates are the most common source of carbon and energy in for microogranisms. Nitrogen Nitrogen is requirement for growth as it is an essetial elemenent as the are a vital component in amino acids and protein synthesis within the cell. Yeast cells are able to utilise organic and inorganic sources of nitrogen such as ammonia and urea. Vitamins and minerals The yeast cells also require a range of other vitamins and minerals for healthy growth, including vitamin B, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium as well as others which will be highlighted later. These components are used to make up part of the cell mass and although present in small quantites from other sources, may need to be supplied to the cell as individual compenents.

Element Carbon Hydrogen Nitrogen Phosphorus Sulphur Potassium Sodium Calcium Magnesium Iron

Percentage by dry weight 45-50 7 7.5-11 0.8-2.6 0.01-0.24 1.0-4.0 0.01-0.1 0.1-0.3 0.1-0.5 0.01-0.5

Table 1: Elemental compostion of yeast[Aiba et al, 1973]

3.2

Growth Medium Formulation

The essential nutrients required for cell growth will make up the components of a suitable growth medium which will supplied to the cell culture in the fermentation tanks. The proper concentraiton of each component in the growth medium is essential to ensure the highest growth rate and product yield. The stoiciometry of the production of biomass mas be used to determine the components of the growth medium, by performing a mass balance on the maximum growth of the culture. The chemical equation for the production Bakers yeast biomass is: C6 H12 O2 + bO2 + cN H3 + (
+Heat

Xo )C6 H10.9 O3.06 N1.03 Mc

Xo + d)C6 H10.9 O3.06 N1.03 + eH2 O + f CO2 Mc

However, some elements required for product formation are not required for biomass composition and a knowledge of the elemental composition of the cell is therefore required in order to ensure the correct quantities of nutrients are supplied. Table 1 shows the elemental composition of a typical yeast cell. Considering the large-scale operation of the production the growth medium will be required in high volumes. Therefore, considerations into the cost of raw materials and availability should be made. The cheapest source of nutrients which is suitable for Bakers yeast production and readily available all year round should be used in this production. Water Water should be the main component of the growth medium used in any fermentation process. Yeast cells do not actively use water for cell metabolism, however an aquesous medium for growth is essential for the transport of essential nutrients into and around the cell. The quantity of water used will be based on the water also makes the solution less viscous making feeding and mixing processes easier. The quantity of water is based on the nesseccery dilution of 7

other components of the medium. It should also be noted that that a food grade product is required and that the water used must be potable and free of microbial contaminants. It should therefore be sterilised before being used in the fermentation process. Carbon Source Carbon has a role in both biosynthesis and energy generation. The carbon requirements for the cell culture can be estimated using the cellular yield coefcient (Y) which is dened as: Quantity of cell dry matter produced Quantity of carbon substrate utlised In the production of Bakers yeast the highest value of Y for glucose has been found to 0.5 g of yeast/ g of sugars, for a growth rate between 0.1 hr1 to 0.26 1 .[deKock] Some cheap sources of sucrose which are commonly used in the industrial production of Bakers yeast are sugar beet and sugar cane molasses, which are residual produces left after sugar scystallisation in the sugar renement processes. They both contain around fty percent of sucrose. Molasses provide a source of simple monosacheride sugars which are easily utilised by the yeast cells which should always be available as the sugar renement industry operates continuously all year round. The use of beet and cane molasses was also widely adopted by industry because its use was encouraged by the European Union with a mimimum price set. The concentration of the sugars must be maintained at 0.1kg/m3 in order to maintain the highest yield possible.[ref] The amount required will not be fed at a continuous rate, as the demand for sugar will increase as the culture grows, and therefore knowledge of the cell mass produced in each step is needed in order to maintain the correct concentration of sugar. Nitrogen Source A nitrogen source is an essential part of the growth medium and is a requirement for cells in order to produce biomass. Nitrogen makes up between 7-10 percent of a dry yeast cell mass and medium which is lacking in a nitrogen source will not be suitable to encourage the production of biomass. Ammonia gas, ammonium salts and nitrates are all suitable sources of nitrogen (ref needed). However, it should be considered that the addition of inorganic nitrogen sources may aect the pH level of the medium. Ammonium salts will often casuse acidic conditions as the ammoinium iion is ulitlised and the free acid is liberated. Wherease the use ifammonia nitrates and gases will usually cause an alkialine shift as the are metabolised ince the ammonia source has been utilised. [Martin and macmillian 1954] Minerals and Vitamins Many elements which compose the yeast cells are essential for growth and must be present in a suitable growth medium. Sodium, calcium and magnesium comproise between 0.1-0.5 percent of the dry yeast cell mass and potassium can

range between 1-4 percent of the weight and they may therefore need to be supplemented to the medium as distinct components. The addition of biotin, a vitamin B growth factor is required for S.Cerevisiae growth and may be present in the beet or cane molasses which are used as carbon sources However, if the sources are decient the biotin may need to be added although this will incur greater cost from purchasing individual components from external sources.

3.3

Oxygen Demand

Oxygen must be supplied to the cell throught the liquid growth medium therefore the dissolved oxygen concentraion must be maintained at a certain level by aerating the growth medium at all times. The rate of oxygen uptake is independant of the concentraion of dissolved oxygen, provided that the concentration is above a certain critical level.[Bioengineering] Below this level, the respiration rate of the culture is dependant on the dissolved oxygen concentration and will have a negative aect on the production of biomass. It is therefore nessesery to provide provide sucient oxygen through the growth medium to ensure the dissolved oxygen concentration is above the critical level. The critcal concentration of dissolved oxygen, for Bakers yeast production at 30o C is approximately 0.0007g/l [indstr. engng chem(1950)] Oxygen is normally supplied to the growth medium in the form of air, with it being the cheapest source of oxygen. The oxygen transfer from air to cell is broken into three stages; the transfer of oxygen from the air bubble to growth medium solution, the transfer of dissolved oxygen through the solution to the cell, and the uptake of dissolved oxygen by the cell. The limiting is the mass transfer from the air bubble to the solution[Bartholemew et al, 1950]. The rate of oxygen transfer can be described by the equation: dCL = KL a(C CL ) dt where CL is the concentration of dissolved oxygen in mmoles dm3 , t is time in hours, KL is the mass transfer coecient(cm h1 ), a is the gas/liquid interface area per liquid volume (cm2 cm3 , C* is the saturated dissolved oxygen concentraion, in mmoles dm3 . It is however almost impossible to practically measure the interfacial area of each air bubble in the system. Therefore the only determination of the oxygen dissolution rate is to experimentally measure the rate of absorption by sulphate ion oxidation, a method devised by Cooper et al. For air at 25o C, the aeration eciency KL a was found to equal 5. The air supply rate can then be derived based on the intended cell culture mass oxygen demand, mass transfer rate to the solution and the percentage of oxygen present in the feed stream.

3.4

Environmental Conditions

The conditions most suited to culture growth come from the natural environmental conditions in which the species evolved. It is for this reason that the 9

conditions within the fermenter should be regulated to maintain the most desirable environment for the cells to reproduce. The the optimal conditions are: Pressure -atmospheric[ref] Temperature -30o C[ref] pH -4.5-5[ref]

3.5

Sterilisation

The plant is specied to produce food grade product. Therefore, the product must be suitable for human consumption and sterilization of process equipment and operation aseptic environment is absolutely essential. Furthermore, the invasion of foreign microorganisms into the growth medium can have a signicant negative impact on production. If contaminated, the growth medium would have to support both the growth of the yeast as well as the contaminant. The contaminating microorganisms would also degrade the purity of the nal product and make extraction of the desired product more dicult. Sterilization should be performed on all parts of the process including the the growth medium, fermenter vessels, ancillary equipment and asceptic conditions should be maintained throughtout the fermentation process in oder to ensure the desired purity of food grade product with no decrease in production rate. Steam is most commonly used as source of heat in order to kill microorganisms. Their rate of death can be described by a rst order chemical reaction, as displayed the equation:

4
4.1

Process Design
Production Rate

The plant is specied to produce 2500 tonnes of Bakers yeast each year. Allowing for an operational down-time of ten percent[Sinnott, 2005], the plant will be operating for 325 days per year. The weekly production rate can therefore be calculated 53191.5kg of yeast per week.

4.2

Modes of operation

There are three modes of operation which are suitable for the fermentation of biomass.These are batch, continuous and fed-batch processes. Each process has its advantages but the process selection depends on the type of product and scale of production. 4.2.1 Batch Culture

A batch culture is closed culture system in which an inoculated culture is placed with a limited amount of nutrients. The cell culture, if environmental conditions

10

are suitable, will then undergo the phases of growth which were described earlier. After the lag phase and the phase of increasing growth rate, the cells begin to grow at a constant, maximum rate.Batch production may be used for the production of biomass, with a growth medium and environmental conditions which supported maximum cell population, encouraging a long exponential phase. 4.2.2 Fed-batch Culture

The term fed-batch culture was rst introduced by Yoshida et al (1973) and describes and operation by which fresh growth medium is fed to the culture in a continuous or sequential manner while the culture remain in the vessel, hence increasing the volume of the culture as the operation is run. One major advantage of a fed-batch culture is that the concentration of substrate can be easily controlled by the feed rate of fresh medium into the fermenter vessel. As previously stated an excess of glucose in the fermentation of bakers yeast is undesirable. It has been recognised that increasing the concentration of glucose will lead to increased growth and the oxygen demend of the system will increase, resulting in anaerobic respiration if the demand of oxygen is not supplied and an increase in ethanol production. Bakers yeast is very sensitive to high glucose concentration, and respiratory activity was shown to be repressed at around 5ug dm3 (Crabtree, 1929). In a fed-batch production of bakers yeast the medium feed rate should be under strict automatic control based on the detection of ethanol in the fermentation exhaust gas. In order to achieve the highest production rate fed-batch culture is the most suitable mode of operation because of the scale of the operation is not so large that is demands continuous production rate. It is easy to control the rate of substrate fed to the vessels and this means that the process can avoid the production of ethanol. A number of fermentation vessels will be required as the cell culture grows and must be moved to a larger environment.

4.3
4.3.1

Process selection
Nutrient preperation

Sugar beet and blackstrap cane molasses will be the principal raw materials for the production of bakers yeast as they are rich in fermentable sugar content assimilable by the yeast. These molasses are produced as a waste product from the processing of sugar beet and sugar cane. Other than fermentable sugar (sucrose, glucose and fructose), these molasses also provide essential minerals such as potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron, and copper, amino nitrogen, and vitamins such as biotin. (H.J.Peppler, 1967). The composition of each molasses varies according to the type and geographical origin. The average composition of beet molasses and blackstrap cane molasses are presented in the table below: In general, beet molasses has higher organic nitrogen than cane but not all of this organic nitrogen can be assimilated by Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. Cane molasses on the other hand has substantially higher composition in biotin, pantothenic acid, magnesium and calcium. Both types of molasses are nearly equal

11

Constituent Brix Water Organic Constituents Sugars: Sucrose Glucose Fructose Invert Sugar(Ranose) Total Sugars Nonsugars(Nitrogenous materials, free and bound acids, soluble gummy substances) Inorganic Constituents (Ash) SiO2 K2 O CaO MgO P2 O5 Na2 O Fe2 O3 Al2 O3 Soda and carbonate residue Sulfate residue (as SO3) Chlorides 1.6 2.1 Other Constituents Total Ash

Beet molasses (percentage) 84 16.5

Blackstrap cane molasses (percentage) 88 21

51 2.7 5.2 2 53

38.5

5.6 52

19 0.1 3.9 0.26 0.16 0.06 1.3 0.02 0.07 3.5 0.55 8 11.5

10 0.5 4.1 0.8 0.24 0.08 0.08 0.0014

0.7

17

Table 2: Elemental compostion of beet and blackstrap cane molasses

12

in fermentable sugar content potassium and other trace minerals. However, yeast manufacturers usually prefer beet molasses to cane molasses based on the overall composition. Frequently, a mixture of both molasses is used rather than one molasses alone to ensure adequate supply of essential nutrients from the molasses. The common recipe used in Bakers yeast production is beet molasses with at least twenty percent cane molasses mixture to ensure ample supply of biotin. Other mineral nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen must also be supplemented in addition to the mixture in order to sustain optimum growth, maximum yield and quality as molasses contains only a small portion of the mineral nutrients. To prepare the mixed molasses solution as a feed into the reactor, the solution must be subjected to preliminary treatment by means of dilution, pH adjustment, heating, clarication and sterilisation. The objectives of the pretreatment are 1. Removal of suspended matter, colloids, colouring materials, volatile acids, nitrites and sulphites by clarication. 2. Reducing and elimination of microbial ora by disinfection or sterilisation (Olbrich, 1963) It is then supplemented with additional nutrients as necessary. These steps may add additional operating cost but they are necessary to guarantee the safety of the end products for human consumption. Preliminary Treatment The dilution of the mixture is practised partly to dissolve the microscopic sugar crystals in the solution but mainly to make it easier to move the solution by means of pumps as molasses can be very viscous. The viscosity of the mixture prior to dilution can reach up to approximately 7.5Pa s 1. The dilution of molasses is usually represented by using degrees brix. It is a unit representative of the dissolved solid content in a solution e.g. 1 brix corresponds to 1g of solid dissolved in 100g of solution. In industry, the mixture is usually diluted to 40-50 brix and adjusted to pH 4-6 upon mixing. To determine the most suitable dilution factor, adjusted pH and heated temperature, the next step after mixing, which is clarication and sterilisation, are studied. In order to maximise the eciency of the pre-treatment, optimum physical conditions should be employed. Clarication Clarication of molasses is primarily employed to clarify colloids and non-sugar suspended materials (mud) in the molasses. These colloids and suspended materials may interfere with the assimilation of sugars during the fermentation of the bakers yeast hence reducing the eciency (A. H. E1-Refai, 1992). Treated molasses is expected to give maximum yeast growth productivity as a result of better fermentation eciency. The most eective way to clarify the molasses is

13

by centrifugation after dilution, heating and sulphuric acid addition to assist coagulation of the mud. The clarication method, design equation and alternative processes will be reviewed. Centrifugal Clarication The eects of dilution, temperature, acid addition on the eciency of ash removal were studied by HW Bernhardt, 1998 (Bernhardt, 1998). The optimum operating conditions were found to be at temperature 70C, pH 4 and dilution to 50 brix. 4.3.2 Innoculation

The process begins in a laboratory, where a pure culture of yeast is inoculated into a sterile ask, and grown with a growth medium in a batch process under anaerobic conditions. This is done to prevent any bacterial or viral contamination of the yeast which could cause the culture to die. Once the ask can no longer contain the population, its contents are transferred into a larger ask under the same sterile anaerobic conditions. Various strains of S. cerevisiae have been investigated, with new strains with a faster reproduction rate being created constantly. As of right now, the maximum average growth rate is 0.54 h-1, which comes from the strain ATCC 4126. (De Kock et. l, 2000) This is a great improvement from 0.4 h-1, which was the value in 1981 (Reed, 1981), mainly attributed to strain selection. The strain of S. cerevisiae that will be used is CBS 8066, which has a maximum growth rate of 0.50 hr-1, and a saturation coecient of 40 mg L-1. The ATCC 4126 does provide a higher maximum growth rate of 0.54 h-1, however that does also come with a higher saturation coecient of 60 mg L-1, which is 150 percent of the CBS 8066, and therefore a higher concentration of substrate is required to maintain the same growth rate and the same doubling time. 4.3.3 Fermentaion

After the innoculum has grown suciently a number of fermentation stages will be required in order to achieve the required cell mass. As the cell culture is transfered to the next fermentation stage,a larger vessel will be required to contain growing cell population. 4.3.4 Seperation

Once the desired mass of yeast has been yielded from the fermentation stage the desired product should be seperated from the fermentation broth in order to obtain a commercially viable product. Three dierent centrifuges were considered for the separation of the fermenter outlet. The centrifuges that were considered are tubular, decanter and disc stack centrifuge. It was found in literature, these centrifuges were used in dierent plants for the separation process. The fermenter outlet with solids concentration of 6 percent will be concentrated to 19 percent solids. The solid discharge from the centrifuge is termed yeast cream and will be further dewatered to produce compressed yeast with solids 14

concentration of 30 percent. The yeast cream will also be dehydrated to 93 percent solids concentration to make active dry yeast. The centrate will contain mostly water, with residual unfermented sugar and traces of by products and cells.

4.3.5

Decanter Centrifuge

The decanter centrifuge consists of two rotational pieces which are the bowl and the screw conveyor (scroll). The scroll is within the cylindrical bowl and both are rotating at dierent speed. The scroll will provide a conveying motion for the removal of solids due to the dierence in speed. Feed enters the centrifuge through a hollow tube along the centre of rotation into the liquid pond at the bowl wall. Centrifugal force generated by the rotating pieces will cause solids to settle and accumulate at the bowl wall. Solids are conveyed along the scroll towards the solids discharge end of the centrifuge. The liquid moves towards the adjustable weirs located on the other end of the centrifuge. The weirs dictate the level of the liquid inside the bowl. Towards the solids discharge end, the bowl is sloped inwards to the centre. This will cause the solids to be conveyed up towards the centre and liquid will drain back into the liquid pond. It is common for a decanter centrifuge to have a horizontal axis of rotation and it is most widely used in industry but centrifuge with vertical axis of rotation is also available however it is not used as widely as the horizontal centrifuges. Around the rotating bowl is the housing. Its primary function is to avoid the solid discharge and centrate from mix back together after separation. Electrical motor generates power to rotate the bowl and the scroll and a gearbox controls the speed of the conveyor. 4.3.6 Disc Stack Centrifuge

The disc stack centrifuge has several parallel disc stacked on top of one another inside the bowl. The discs inside the centrifuge provide a large area for particle settling. Centrifugal force generated by the motor causes liquid to move towards the axis of rotation and ows upwards through the discs. Heavy solid particles settle on the discs and moves downwards to the bowl wall. The discs are slopped at a certain angle to provide ecient separation. Feed enters at the centre of rotation either from the top or the bottom. At the end of the centrifugation process, claried liquid will leave the centrifuge through the opposite end of the entrance. Solids will be collected at the side of the bowl wall and could be discharged either periodically or continuously. Disc stack centrifuges are commonly used in the separation of ne solids and liquids, and it could also be used for classication of solids. 4.3.7 Tubular Bowl Centrifuge

The tubular bowl centrifuge comprises of a rotating vertical cylindrical tube. The length of the tube is usually several times the diameter. The tube is placed in between two bearings at each end to allow the tube to be rotated by the

15

motor. Feed enters at the bottom of the tube and separation between solid and liquid occurs due to the centrifugal force. Puried liquid ows through the axis of rotation and exits through the top of the tube. Solid will adhere to the side at the tube wall. Collected solids, in time, will form a cake with a certain thickness. Liquid is able to ow through the centrifuge continuously. However, the operation of the centrifuge needs to be stopped for the removal of solids. The solids could either be manually scrapped o from the tube wall or ushed out. This centrifuge is commonly employed in the separation of immiscible liquids and purication of ne solids. 4.3.8 Drying

The plant is designed to produce 30 percent active dry yeast and 70 percent compressed yeast based on our market research. Drying is an important unit operation widely used in the food industry to reduce water content and improve shelf life of products. The principle is based on the removal of water from material by evaporation (Strumillo and Kudra 1986). During thermal drying, they may undergo some changes such as denaturation of proteins or enzymes, destruction of cell membranes or death of cells. In order to keep the adverse eects of thermal drying to a minimal, the optimal operation of drying process is required (Adamiec, et al. 1995). Several drying methods were looked into including spray drying, Rotolover dryer and tunnel dryer but the Fludised bed dryer stood out as it has been widely used under batch or continuous operations for industrial drying of Bakers yeast (Hovmand 1995). Also, the use of uid bed drying for granular material is now widely used and well established in Industry (Trkera, et al. 2006). Bakers yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a granular product and this drying operation reduces its moisture content from 70-65 percent to 6-4 percent with a varying time between 30 and 200 minutes. This gives us product within the desired moisture content for dry active yeast, as well as greatly improving its shelf life (Beker and Rapoport 1987).

Fluidised Bed For many years, uidised beds have been used in the food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries to carry out a variety of chemical reactions as well as unit operations. A uid bed is formed when a bed of particles is transformed into a uid-like state by forcing a gas through the bed (Villegas, et al. 2009). A primary advantage of the uidized bed is that it provides high heat and mass transfer due to the turbulence created in the bed, as well as good solids mixing and easy transport of material. Though, it is dicult to predict the dynamics in these systems as they are known to be highly non-liner (Kunii and Levenspiel 1991). A typical uidized bed dryer consists of a blower, heater, uidized bed column and a gas-cleaning system. The conventional uidized bed is formed by

16

Parameter BOD5 COD TS TKN(N) pH SO2 4

Concentration (mg l1 ) 18,300-27,200 52,600-88,800 3,774-7,307 1,612-2,057 3.8-4.0 4,600-6,300

Table 3: Typical Bakers yeast production wastewater [Lo, Liao] passing a gas stream from the bottom of a bed of particulate solids. The udizing gas passes through a gas distributor plate, where the bed of partiles rests, and is uniformly spread across the bed. As the uidizing gas velocity is increased, the pressure drop across the bed increases. The bed is uidized when the gas stream totally supports the weight of the entire bed which occurs at a certain gas velocity known as minimum uidization velocity. The pressure drop remains the same across bed even if the gas velocity is further increased at minimum uidization. A uidized bed is operated at higher gas velocities than the minimum uidization velocity, typically 2-4 umf. This uidization velocity is normally obtained experimentally. Particles with an initial high moisture content have a higher minimum uidization velocity than a comparable bed of dry particles. (Handbook of Industrial Drying n.d.) 4.3.9 Wastewater treatment

Euent from the fermentation of Bakers yeast contains high amounts of organic and inorganic matter including polyosaccharides, minerals and sulphate. High concentration of BOD and COD encourages bacterial growth in water and leads to a depletion of dissolved oxygen in water which can be harmful to the ecosystem which it supports. Below is a table displaying a typical composition of the waste water from an industrial bakers yeast production Due to the high polluting potential of the process liquid euent it is nesseccery for the wastewater to undergo some form of treatment or alternative proccsing so that it can be disposed of safely without signicant harm to the local water system. There a number of options available for the treatment of wastewater from the production of Bakers yeast, some of which may be more economically viable. The most important criteria for a successful wastewater treatment process is to reduce the BOD, COD and high nitrogen level to below government standards. Current British Water standards request the post-treatment euent quality displayed in table 4[British Water Code of Practise].

17

Parameter BOD5 Suspended Solids Ammonia (as N)

Concentration (mg l1 ) 20 30 20

Table 4: Typical Bakers yeast production wastewater [Lo, Liao] 4.3.10 Anaerobic digestion

The rst process option is to treat the wastewater by anaerobic digestion, which is a natural process by which microogransism break down the organic matter of the euent stream in the absence of oxygen. In this process the organic matter is broken down over a number of weeks, to carbon dioxide and methane gas which is formally known as biogas and is suitable as fuel for power generation, which may be a potential option in electricity generation to power parts of the plant. The biogas produced from the anaerobic digestion can be collected, stored and used when needed. However, there are signicant economic implications for the installation and operation of an anerobic digestion process along with the technology required for biogas fueled power generation. The viability of a designated wastewater treatment process will depend on the volume of wastewater and cost of production, operation and maintenance.

4.3.11

Compound Fractioning and Recovery

Another wastewater process option available is is to concentrate the euent stream by evaporation or distillation leaving condensed molasses solubles (CMS), also known as vinasse, which is a by-product of sugar beet fermenation processes. Condensed molasses solubles may be used as fertiliser of as a feed for cattle, if the potassium concentration is reduced to a safe level. Potassium salts, an essential component of plant fertilizer, may be obtained by the addition of ammunium sulphate during an evapotation process, concentrating the vinasse to dry matter content of 50-80 percent dry solids. During this process homogenous growth of potassium salt crystals occurs, and these crystals may be collected by a solid/liquid seperating process such as decanting[US PATENT, 1996].

4.3.12

O-site treatment

The nal option for handling wastewater from the plant is to pay an o-site sewage works to treat the wastewater to an acceptable standard, by an activated sludge process before being desposed of. Although o-site treatment would reduce the production and operating costs of the plant, it would generate volumetric charges for disposal as well as transporation of euent to o-site sewage works. In the UK, the cost of wastewater treatment is broken down in ve components, and factors in the strength of the euent. The following equation is

18

used to calculate the cost of biological treatment of wastewater by Southern Water[Trade euent charger] U N IT CHARGE = [R + V + where R is a xed charge for reception and conveyance = 50.07p/cubic mtr V is a xed charge for preliminary tretment = 42.37p/cubic mtr Ot is a measure of the organic nature of the wastewater, generally measured in terms of COD B is the biological treatment cost per cubic metre of sewage = 48.12p/cubic mtr Os is a meaure of the organic nature of settled foul sewage St is the total suspended solids of the trade euent mg/l S is the sludge treatment and disposal cost = 32.91p/cubic mtr Ss is the total suspended solids of crude sewage M is a xed charge per cubic metre for discharge through long sea outlet = 6.37p/cubic mtr Assuming the treatment for average values for the COD and total suspended solids disposal the unit charge for o-site waste water treatment would be approximately 55 pounds per cubic meter (tonne) of wastewater for o-site treatment. This is due to the high concentration of COD and some some on site treatment may be nessesery to reduce the COD before being sent to a sewage works, thereby avoiding expensive treatment costs. Due to the high particularly high COD and nitrogen concentration of Bakers yeast euent some form of wastewater treatment should occur on site, lowering the organic matter content before it can be sent to local sewage works so that third party charges for disposal are kept to a minimum. The plant will therefore feature a suitable anaerobic biological contact reactor in order to treat wastewater and produce biogas which may be used to power generation. Ot.B St.S + + M] Os Ss

4.4 4.5
4.5.1 4.5.2

Process Flow Diagram Equipment Design

Steriliser Fermenters

Requirements of a suitable fermenter are based on the nutrient and environmental requirements of the yeast culture. The fermentation vessels should meet the following design criteria[Principles of fermentation]: 1. Capable of aseptic operation for a number of days

19

2. Provide adequate aeration and agitation to the cell culture, while not damaging the cells through mechanical stress 3. Provide a system of temperature control, to maintain 30o C with the vessel. 4. Provide a system of pH control, to maintain a pH of between 4.5-5. 5. Require minimal amounts of labour during operation, cleaning and maintenance. 6. Constructed using welds to provide smooth internal surfaces. 7. Constructed using the cheapest materials which provide satisfactory operation. Body Construction A cylindrical shaped vessel with hemispherical top and bottom, in order to withstand pressure sterilisation. For smaller vessel the body should be constructed of 7mm thick stainless steel, while larger vessels will be constructed of mild steel with a stainless steel cladding in order to reduce capital cost of larger vessel. Stainless steel is corrosion resistant and non-toxic, and will be satisfactory for many years of continued use. Aeration and agitation Every cell needs to be in contact with oxygen supplied as air is suitable for this process. The air is introduced to the growth medium through a sparger, a device used to pump gas bubbles into a liquid. There are a number of dierent sparger types available all of which would be suitable for aerating the growth medium, although most modeern fermenter designs use a nozzle sparger, which should be posisionted directly beneath the agitator but as far away as possible, so that the agitator does not become ooded with gas bubbles leading to a decrease in power. Agitation is desired not only to break up air bubble to increase the interfacial area for oxygen transfer to the cell culture, but also to ensure a uniform concentration of components within the fermentation broth. An impeller is a series of blades or paddles attached to a shaft which is driven by an electric motor. The blades move the fermentation broth and create axial ow patterns within the vessel. The Rushton turbine is the most suitable impeller for gas-dispersion and should be position above the base a distance of one-third to one-half of the vessel diameter. For the larger fermenters 2 discs will be needed in order to achieve the same dispersion. An agitation speed of 500rpm is suitable for the production of Bakers yeast, slightly decreasing the lag-phase while avoiding damage to the cells.[Ahmad, Holland] 4.5.3 Centrifuge

This production plant uses centrifuges at two dierent part of the process. First is for the separation of yeast cells from the nal fermenter and the other is used in the preparation of sugar molasses; clarifying beet and cane molasses from

20

ash mud. The centrifuge inlet solids concentration, outlet solids concentration, density dierence between solid and liquid and diameter of particle to be separated are important parameters that were considered during the selection of centrifuge. Separation of fermented yeast.

Seperation of fermented yeast After the nal fermentation process, inside the reactor will consist of 94 percent water, 6 percent yeast and traces of unreacted sugar and by products. These will then pass through the centrifuge and concentrated to 81 percent water and 19 percent yeast. The centrate owing out of the centrifuge is assumed to contain no yeast cells and only consist of water and traces of other feed to the process. Live Bakers yeast has a density of 1100 kg/m3 (Bryan, Goranov, Amon, Manalis, 2010) and as the process stream coming into the centrifuge only consist of yeast cells and water, the density dierence between the solid and liquid is 100 kg/m3. In literature, bakers yeast was reported to have a spherical morphology with diameter ranging from 5 to 10 micrometers (Charinpanitkul, Soottitantawat, Tanthapanichakoon, 2008). Figure 1.7 gives an indication of the appropriate centrifuge to be used according to the particle diameter to be separated. Tubular bowl, disc stack (batch, nozzle and valve), imperforated basket and decanter centrifuge falls in the range of bakers yeast cell diameter. However, tubular bowl centrifuge is rarely employed for separation of solution with solids concentration higher than 1 percent (Coulson Richardson, 1983). Tubular bowl centrifuge generates centrifugal force of around 15000g which is excessive for concentrating cell suspension and poses high possibility of damaging the yeast cells. Similarly, the centrifugal force generated by disc stack centrifuge is lower than tubular centrifuge but is still within the range that is able to cause yeast cells to disrupt. A decanter centrifuge would provide a continuous separation where as an imperforated basket centrifuge operates in a batch manner. Decanter centrifuge will require less space in the plant. Based on the equipment selection guide by Lavanchy et al. (1964), the most suitable centrifuge was chosen. Figure 1.8 clearly depicts, for a feed volumetric owrate of 16.2m3 /h at a Q/ of 6.1x106 , a scroll type or decanter centrifuge should be used for separating the fermented yeast from its nutrient broth. Equations used and calculations of these values can be found in appendix XX.

Clarication of beet and cane molasses The beet and cane molasses mixture owing out from the mixing tank (refer to sheet 1 of P and ID) have a solids concentration of ash mud of 7.3 percent. This needs to be brought down to 2.2 percent solids. The solid discharge end of the centrifuge contains only ash mud which mainly consists of calcium sulphate and potassium sulphate. The molasses feed into the centrifuge ows at a owrate of 12.24m3 /h. By employing similar calculations as with the separation of fermented yeast, the Q/ was found to be 1 x 107 .

21

Figure 1.9 indicates that a disc stack centrifuge should be employed for the clarication of the molasses mixture based on the values mentioned above. Appendix XX1 contains calculations of all the physical parameters and variables involved. 4.5.4 Centrifuge Design

Decanter Centrifuge The decanter centrifuge was designed to separate 900,000 kg of fermented bakers yeast within 3 days. The centrifugation process runs continuously to produce concentrated yeast cream for further dewatering and dehydrating, and centrate, consisting of water and traces of other materials into the fermentation process, which will be treated at the wastewater facilitiy before being discharge. The generalised design equation for decanter centrifuge was obtained by deriving from basic centrifugation principles and equations (particle settling velocity, residence time and liquid volume inside the centrifuge). The equation obtained is 2 2 2 2 Dp (s l ) b(Rw RL )) [ ] Q= 18 (ln(Rw /RL ) Where ? is the rotational speed (rads/s), Dp is the diameter of the particle to be separated (m), ?s is the density of the solid (kg/m3), ?l is the density of the liquid (kg/m3), is the viscosity of the liquid (kg/(m s)), b is the length of the cylindrical part, Rw is the radial distance from axis of rotation to the liquid pool (m) and RL is the radial distance from axis of rotation to the centrifuge wall (m). The above equation could be further simplied by assuming that the distance for a particle to settle is small in comparison to the bowl radius i.e. Rw-RLRL. The generalised design equation becomes Q=
2 2 bRw 2 Dp (s l ) 9

The simplied design equation was used to obtain the volume and dimension of the decanter centrifuge for this plant. The centrifuge will handle 0.001 m3/s of feed consisting of bakers yeast cells and water. By evaluating dierent cylindrical length, b and centrifuge radius, Rw , it was found the centrifuge to have a volume 0.07 m3. The decanter centrifuge would be 0.9 m of cylindrical length with 0.31 m diameter. This gives a length to diameter of 2.9. Usually for industrial centrifuge, the length to diameter ratio is around 4 (Records Sutherland, 2001). Any value higher than this would require the centrifuge to be operated ineciently in terms of energy consumption. Full calculations regarding the size of the decanter centrifuge could be found in appendix XX2. 4.5.5 Fluidised Bed

Anaerobic Biodigester

4.6

Process Control

All stages of the production process need to be under strict control in order to obtain the desired product quality and quantity. Poor control of glucose level 22

and environmental conditions during fermentation can leads to batch spoilage, while failure to control post-fermentation processing could produce products which are not suitable for retail. It is also nesseccery to control the volume of steam during sterilisation stage to ensure aseptic conditions and prevent contamination. The control philosophy for each processing stage will be discussed. A control loop has three basic components: 1. Measuring element 2. Controller 3. Final control element A measuring element monitors a property of the operation such as temperature, pressure or owrate and converts this physical property into an output signal. This electronic signal may then be displayed on the external casing of the measuring instrument or displayed in a control room. A controller, either human or computer, then compares the measurement to a predetermined value refered to as the set-point. Any dierence in the measured value and the set point will lead to an adjustment in the nal control element in order to manipulate and return the measured property back to the desired set point. This may be done by hand in the adjustment of a valve or by a computer which generates an output signal based on the varience between measured value and desired setpoint which controls some device such as a valve. It is nessesery to have all three components for successful control, wether it be manual and automatic. 4.6.1 Fermentation

Ensuring constant environmental and nutritent conditions is essential to ensure the disered quantity of yeast production during the fermentation stage. Each fermenter vessel should have the capability of monitoring and regulating environemental conditions include temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen concentration as well as glucose concentration to ensure optimal growth. Temperature The temperature of the solution containing in the fermenter vessels is measured using a temperature indicator. This is connected to temperautre controller with a predetermined set point of 30o C.T hetemperautrecontrolleristhen pH Dissolved Oxygen Concentration 4.6.2 Centrifuge

There are several ow indicators connected at the streams around the centrifuge (at the inlet, solids discharge and centrate stream). These indicators provide operators with ow measurements to ensure no blockage inside any of the pipe. It is expected not much variation in owrate around the separation process because the centrifuge was designed to handle ow uctuations up to 10 percent. The valves at the outlets of the centrifuge will have been opened manually at 23

the start up to allow a xed owrate and will remain throughout the time the centrifuge operates. Hence, no ow controllers are used. There is a possibility that the centrifuge may get too hot and stops functioning completely because there are a lot of rotating and moving parts in the centrifuge which generate heat. Therefore, the temperature of the centrifuge must be monitored throughout its operation. A temperature indicator gives the temperature of critical parts within the centrifuge and if it gets too high, an alarm will be set o notifying the operating of the situation. The moisture content of the solids discharge stream is considered the most important parameter in the separation process. Hence, a quality indicator is position at the solids discharge stream to monitor the water content inside the stream as the solids owing out needs to be at 19 percent solids concentration. If for any reason, the solids concentration falls below 19 percent, the indicator will send a signal to the actuator connected to the control valve at the centrifuge inlet stream to reduce the ow of feed into the centrifuge. If the solids concentration owing out is too high, no action will be taken as this would be more desirable for the further downstream processes which dewater and dehydrate the centrifuge outlet.

4.7 4.8 4.9

Piping and Instrumentation Diagram Equipment Specication Sheets Plant Layout

The plant would be situated in an industrial area near other plants because facilities and utilities are readily available for new plants. The plant also has to be not too far away and easily accessible. Raw materials such as molasses and nutrients for feed preparation and fermentation has to be rell every week. Therefore, easy access to the plant would ensure steady ow of raw materials which would prevent any disruption on the production of bakers yeast. The plant also requires constant supply of utilities such as electricity, water and steam. Situating it in the industrial area where these are all already establish, would be benecial to the plant. The plant layout could be found in appendix AA. The plant consists of four main parts; feed preparation zone, fermentation area, downstream processing zone and administration. Feed preparation is located near the front of the plant. Feed storage tanks are situated near the loading dock in order to ease the tanks being rell and avoid any cluttering while doing so. The heat exchanger for the sterilising unit is placed a bit further away from other equipment as it is the only equipment the pose potential harm because hot steam and stream passes through the equipment. This also allows the equipment to be isolated when there is a problem and any damage could be contained. After the feed preparation zone is the fermentation area which comprise of nine bioreactors of increasing volume. The rst two are fairly small as they are

24

just an innoculum for the yeast. The reactors are could be observed from the control room. The control room is located near the rst four reactors. Other reactors could easily be reached by an operator in case of any emergency. Majority of the pumps used in this process could be found in the pump room at the centre of the plant. This is to minimise the space that would be occupied by the pumps. A laboratory is also required for this plant to conduct quality test on various sampling points throughout the plant and to assess the purity of the nal yeast product. Therefore, it is placed next to the control room nearby the bioreactors. Six storage tanks which supplies the fermenters with the nutrients required for optimum growth of yeast are located at the middle part of the loading dock. These nutrients, similarly to the molasses, must also be replenish on a weekly basis as production of each batch will consume all the content of the tank. It has been found that it would be more economical to rell the tanks on a weekly basis than to have large tanks that would store huge amounts of nutrients for production of several batches of bakers yeast. Furthermore, there would be a higher possibility of contamination with storing large volume of nutrients at one time. Centrifuge, lter press, uidised bed dryer, storage tanks and the wastewater treatment facility makes up the downstream processing unit of this plant. The centrifuge is placed right after the last four fermenters to decrease the pipe distance between the equipments. After the centrifuge, the concentrated yeast cream goes through the lter press and the uidised bed dryer for further dewatering and dehydrating. These two equipments are parallel to each other as the yeast cream ows into both simultaneously. Storage tanks for compressed and active dry yeast are situated next to the unloading dock which at the end of the plant. The nal product could be easily transferred into vehicles for distribution and opening space for storage for the next batch. The wastewater treatment facility is located on the opposite site of the plant from the storage of the nal products. The treated waste could be discharged safely into a river nearby the plant.

4.10

Start Up/Shut Down Procedures

Steriliser Fermenter Before the fermentation process can begin the proper start up sequence needs to be performed. This included checking equipment, instrumentation and preparing vessels to reduce the risk of an unsuccessful fermentation. Towards the end of the sterilisation of the fermenter vessels and ancillary equipment should be checked for leaks, which may be performed in person by a process operator. Once they are satised that the equipment is suitable for operation then the rst fermentation vessel should be lled with the aquesous growth solution by opening valve V-101, measuring the ow rate in order to calculate the volume of solution added. Once the vessel has reached the desired level the valve is shut o.

25

Once the water and nutrient solution has been added and the process operator is satised that the correct volume of solution has been used, then the agitation should begin by switching the impeller motor to the desired speed. Also, monitoring and regulation of the solution temperature and pH should begin and air ow should be allowed into the vessel by opening valve-101 and switching one pump P-101. Aeration should be allowed to occur for a few minutes to ensure that sucient dissolved oxygen is present before the yeast is added. At this point, if the temperature and pH of solution are satisfactory, the molasses feed should begin to be added by opening valve V-103 and switching on pump P-101, while simultaneously adding the innoculum to the solution by opening valve V-102 and switching on pump P-101. The fermentation process will then run until the desired mass of yeast has been produced. The feed of molasses will be stopped. The fermentation broth will remain in the vessel, while being agitated and aerated and still under temperature and pH control. The broth will then be pumped to the next fermenter by following the same procedure, until it has passed through all fermentation stages. After the broth has left a fermenter, the vessel should be cleaned by opening the drain and spray hosing to ensure that no residual liquids or solids remain in the vessel. It may then undergo sterilisation in preperation for the next fermentation batch. Centrifuge All pipe connections, valves and instruments around the centrifuge and downstream needs to be thoroughly checked at the start of the fermentation. The centrifuge itself must be inspected and any moving parts (bearings and gears) needs to be oiled including any parts within the motor. Connections to the pump must also be checked to ensure no leakage that would allow outside air into the system which will contaminate the sterile system. Control valves must be tested to ensure it respond appropriately according to the signal sent by the actuator. Calibration test should be done on the quality and ow indicators so that it display the actual moisture and owrate owing out from the solids discharge end. Once the fermentation ends, the centrifuge needs to be turned on followed by opening of the feed inlet valve to allow the fermented yeast in. Steady state would be reached within 70 seconds. Once steady state has been reached, solids and liquids will start to ow out, and outlet pump needs to be switched on. The control valve connected to the outlet of the pump must be opened to allow passage for the separated yeast to further downstream processing. Towards the end of the centrifugation, inlet valve has to be closed once all the content of the nal fermentation tank goes into the centrifuge. Once all of the fermented yeast has been separated, the centrifuge could be isolated and ushed with water to wash away any residual yeast left inside. Before doing this, the outlet valve needs to be closed and outlet pump needs to be switched o as well. Maintenance work should be carried out straight away while the next batch of fermentation proceeds to ensure the centrifuge will work properly.

26

Dryer

5
5.1

Safety
Maintenance

The whole system has been set up to be maintained regularly and safely. The majority of the main equipment, including the reactors, heat exchangers, pumps and towers are all located in easy to access areas in order to make maintenance as easy and as fast as possible. The plant will be maintained regularly for the rst few months, during the wear in period, in order to avoid any major downtime.

5.2

Sta Safety

Sta are to wear safety goggles, hard hats and heat proof gloves whenever in the plant.

5.3

Material Safety

The data sheets for all the materials used in the process are attached to the appendices of the report. None of the chemicals are toxic, ammable or corrosive, and therefore no safety measures have to be taken, as the plant will not be operating anywhere within the: Flash point Flammability Range Autoignition Temperature of the materials. The materials in the plant are: Water Yeast Ammonia Anti-Foam Vitamins Minerals Molasses None of the materials are shock sensitive nor do they have an unusual physical property.

5.4

Process Safety

Fermenters The reaction in the fermenters is exothermic, and the heat generated has been accounted for. In order to avoid raising the temperature of the fermenters, cooling water is used in the jackets to remove the heat generated, 27

and maintain the temperature at an optimum of 30oC. Temperature indicators are placed on all the fermentors, and a cascade control system is used, where the temperature of the fermenter and the entering cooling water are measured, and the ow rate of the cooling water is adjusted accordingly. This allows more stable control of the temperature of the reactor. A temperature high alarm has been placed on the reactors if its temperature is too high. An alarm has also been placed on the cooling water stream, in case its temperature is too high to cool down the fermentors adequately. Level indicators have been placed on the fermentors, along with a level high alarm. As a batch process, the fermentor is meant to empty out after a certain amount of time and go into the next reactor. If the reactor lls up before this time, the fermentor empties out into the next part of the process normally. The level high alarm goes o if the fermentor does not empty out after reaching the high level for a certain amount of time, and the reactor is emptied manually. An analyser is also used to maintain the sugar concentration in the reactor by controlling the ow rate of the incoming sugar molasses. A vent is also placed on all the fermentors in order to prevent the build up of air and CO2 in the reactor. The gases are released into the atmosphere as they are not dangerous or toxic.

5.5

General Safety

The plant is equipped with LED lights throughout as to prevent any sparks being emitted from the lighting system. Even though none of the materials can ignite, but since this is a batch plant, it may be used in the future for the production of other materials, which may require chemicals that could ignite easily. It is for this reason sprinklers, deluge systems and re ghting equipment are also be placed throughout the plant, and all equipment is grounded. Ventilation points are provided around the walls in the plant, in order to prevent the building up of any fumes in the plant, which can cause ignition. The roof of the plant is also a blast cap roof, where in the case of a build up of pressure due to the build up of gases, or during an explosion, the roof will rise to reduce the pressure, and in the case of an explosion, reduces the damage done to the plant. Safety showers, eye baths and rst aid kits are also easily located throughout the plants. Drains are also placed throughout the plant in case of needing to urgently empty out any of the equipment.

28

5.6

HAZOP

6
6.1 6.2

Process Economics
Capital Costs Operating Costs

7 8

Conclusion References

29