Scaleable downstream recovery of nematodes used as biopesticides

This study assesses the suitability of sieving as a scaleable technique for the separation of adult nematodes from infective juveniles, the latter is an effective bioinsecticide whereas the former is waste material resulting from the fermentation process. Batch and semibatch experiments using conventional flow-assisted wet sieving and a novel cross-flow sieving technique were used to study the separation of juveniles from adult nematodes. The experiments were carried out using small-scale devices and the data were analyzed in terms of the screen effectiveness factor. The results were used to identify the sieve size and operating conditions for optimum juvenile recovery. It was found that, for a given species of nematode, optimum recovery was achieved when sieving was carried out in the cross-flow mode, the maximum recovery being a function of the size of the screen. Industrial-scale self-cleaning equipment capable of large-scale continuous screening was used to confirm the capacity of the small-scale operation for scale-up. Experimental results with this unit showed that in continuous operation sieving time is an additional parameter that influences separation performance.