Recovery and purification of polysaccharides from microbial broth

Current industrial practice to recover extracellular microbial polysaccharides from the broth usually requires dilution to permit cell removal followed by precipitation, typically using alcohol. This paper presents a discussion on the solvent precipitation of xanthan and the results of research performed to investigate the behaviour of xanthan solutions during membrane processing using a microporous membrane. Using crossflow microfiltration, flux rates of up to 120 L/m2h were achieved for pure xanthan solutions, with complete rejection of the polysaccharide by the membrane. The thin film model underpredicted flux for xanthan solutions. In fact, flux was independent of xanthan concentration up to 20-25 g/L, and strongly dependent on crossflow velocity. Considerable benefits in terms of purification and reduced solvent requirements can be obtained by the use of an intermediate crossflow microfiltration step during xanthan recovery.