Continuous extraction of α-toxin from a fermented broth of Clostridium perfringens Type A in perforated rotating disc contactor using aqueous two-phase PEG–phosphate system

A 23–1 factorial experimental design was used to evaluate the performance of a perforated rotating disc contactor to extract α-toxin from the fermented broth of Clostridium perfringens Type A by aqueous two-phase system of polyethylene glycol–phosphate salts. The influence of three independent variables, specifically the dispersed phase flowrate, the continuous phase flowrate and the disc rotational speed, was investigated on the hold up, the mass transfer coefficient, the separation efficiency and the purification factor, taken as the response variables. The optimum dispersed phase flowrate was 3.0 mL/min for all these responses. Besides, maximum values of hold up (0.80), separation efficiency (0.10) and purification factor (2.4) were obtained at this flowrate using the lowest disc rotational speed (35 rpm), while the optimum mass transfer coefficient (0.165 h−1) was achieved at the highest agitation level (140 rpm). The results of this study demonstrated that the dispersed phase flowrate strongly influenced the performance of PRDC, in that both the mass transfer coefficient and hold up increased with this parameter.