APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING GEL BEADS OF MICROBIAL CELLS OR ENZYME

摘要

Gel beads of microbial cells or enzymes enclosed in gels are produced by forming a surface liquid stream of a gelling agent flowing from the center toward the peripheral wall of a vessel containing the gelling agent by a lower rotor on the liquid surface of the gelling agent, and dispersing a colloidal suspension of microbial cells or enzymes into a droplets by an upper rotor and allowing the dispersed droplets to fall onto the surface liquid stream, thereby contacting the droplets with the gelling agent. The lower and upper rotors may have vanes radially provided at a periphery of a lower and upper sides, respectively. In place of separate rotors, a single rotor may be used with lower and upper surfaces which respectively provide the functions of the lower and upper rotors. The lower and upper surfaces may also have radially provided vanes. The lower and upper rotors or the lower and upper surfaces of a single rotor are spaced sufficiently from each other so that gelling agent is not splashed by the lower rotor or surface onto the upper rotor at surface. The bead size of gel beads can be adjusted by adjusting the number of revolutions of the rotor, and gel beads of smaller bead size can be produced in a mass production scale without any problem of nozzle clogging and without using a number of nozzles of smaller size.