Clarification of animal cell cultures on a large scale by continuous centrifugation

Animal cells from 80-L and 2000-L fed batch fermentations were removed by a prototype disc stack centrifuge in order to achieve a fast and reliable separation of solids from large quantities of cell culture fluids. The clarification capacity was excellent for animal cells but particles remained in the liquid phase and affected further downstream processing of the cell-free harvest fluid. No significant loss of product was observed. A number of parameters were monitored to optimize process conditions for use with animal cells.