Microbial asparaginase recovery by membrane processes

A feasibility study in the use of membranes for the recovery of L-asparaginase from the fermentation stage has been undertaken. In the cell harvesting stage 100 l of broth (0.55% dry weight approx) of Erwinia carotovora is concentrated to 3.2 l by a I m² prototype cross flow microfiltration unit in just over 4 hours. Cell disruption was carried out by raising the cell suspension to pH 11.5 to release the enzyme, which is stable in alkali, for a short period. After neutralisation by acetic acid addition, the enzyme is separated from the cell debris by filtration with 0.45 μm Asypor membranes. A preliminary economic analysis shows that the membrane process can compete favourably with the conventional process, which employs high speed centrifuges.     

Quansi-optical mode converter for Ka-band application on a gyrotron

A series of electron cyclotron masers (ECMs) has been designed and successfully operated in the frequency range of 6 to 200 GHz over the past 10 years at Strathclyde University. The current Mk. VI ECM operated between 35–200 GHz, the TE _{0 1} ⁰ mode (35.2 GHz) being the lowest order cavity mode excited. Investigation of this ECM and quasi-optical converter combination was made to establish to what extent a Gaussian beam could be produced from the TE _{0 1} ⁰ gyrotron cavity mode.An antenna of the Vlasov (step-cut radiator) configuration was chosen and successfully developed in a series of low-power experiments up to the W-band frequency regime. The low-power experiments demonstrated that such an antenna system could be constructed and operated in the K_a-band frequency region without resorting to high precision quasi-optical components. The final version of the quasi-optical antenna was externally coupled to the output window of the maser and a plane polarized pencil beam was successfully obtained from the combined maser/Vlasov antenna mode converter.A theoretical model involving a single TE _0n ⁰ input mode was chosen to analyse the output beam characteristics from the Vlasov antenna system. Comparison was made between the single mode theoretical model and the experimental results obtained from the maser.     

Megawatt, 330 Hz PRF tunable gyrotron experiments

Repetitively pulsed and cw gyrotrons have hitherto used thermionic cathodes, whereas cold cathode gyrotrons have normally operated as single shot devices. The novel results presented here show that cold cathode gyrotrons can be successfully pulsed repetitively. A tunable gyrotron with a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 150Hz is demonstrated. This system developed >4MW mm-wave output pulses at 100GHz. The gyrotron is based on a two-electrode configuration comprising a field-immersed, field emission, cold cathode and a shaped anode cavity. A superconducting magnet was used to produce the homogeneous intra-cavity magnetic field and a cable pulser was used to drive the electron beam. This pulser produced up to a (200±20)kV pulse with 10ns rise time, a 100ns flat top, a 10ns decay with a characteristic impedance of 200. The energy storage capacity of the cable pulser was 35J. The charging unit limited the maximum PRF to 330Hz. Due to spark gap switching limitations 330Hz was only obtainable in 5 to 10 pulse bursts. For substantial periods of the order of 30 seconds, 100Hz PRF was achieved over an oscillating range of 28 to 100GHz and 150Hz PRF was achieved at 80GHz. No degradation effects on the mm-wave output pulse was evident due to diode recovery time throughout this series of results. A subsequent conclusion is that the diode recovery time in our cold cathode gyrotron is less than 3ms.     

The separation of aryl acylamidase by cross flow microfiltration and the significance of enzyme/cell debris interaction

The use of cross flow microfiltration for the separation of aryl acylamide amidohydrolase (amidase) from cell lysate has been investigated. The transmembrane pressure, the feed velocity and the membrane configuration were all found to have significant influence on the transmission of the enzyme through the membrane. Other factors which affect flux and transmission severely are the physical and biochemical properties of the lysate which control the rate of fouling. These, however, are as yet not well characterised. It has been shown that a large amount of amidase is adsorbed to the cell debris which results in a poor enzyme yield. In some cases the apparent membrane transmission of enzyme reaches 154%; this was ascribed to the desorption of the enzyme in a shear field. A model is offered to account for the mechanism of enzyme transmission enhancement.     

Effect of cathode end caps and a cathode emissive surface onrelativistic magnetron operation

Cathode plasma expansion into a vacuum gap is one of the major physical mechanisms affecting the relativistic magnetron (RM) performance and causing so-called RF pulse shortening. This paper will show how the development of new cathode technologies has led to a significant enhancement of the RM efficiency and power. We have conducted a series of experiments with various cathodes intended for use in RM's. A primary objective in this research was to determine how the cathode geometry and type of emission surface would influence major characteristics of the L-band high-power RM in a rising-sun configuration. In these experiments, the magnetron operated at a fixed frequency of 1.3 GHz, voltage of 100-500 kV, total electron current of 2-8 kA, and total microwave peak power of 100-700 MW depending on operating conditions and type of cathode used. It was found that the geometry (smooth cylindrical, series of disks, pins) and the type of cathode emission surface (stainless steel, velvet, carbon fibers) affected the magnetron performance. This process resulted in a variation of the maximum microwave power of ~30%. The cathode end caps, which have been mostly abandoned after transition from classic to RM's, were shown to be able to increase the microwave power and RM efficiency by ~80% without facilitating the pulse shortening effect. This result was achieved through the implementation of cathode design principles that are compatible with the operation of RM's. A maximum total efficiency of 24% was achieved with a velvet cathode with end caps, determined as the ratio of peak power to input electrical power