Patent ID: 8067193

Claim:
A process of separating suspended solids from a fermentation liquor comprising the following sequence of steps: (i) producing the fermentation liquor in a fermentation process for the production of a fermentation product; (ii) subjecting the fermentation liquor produced in step (i) to a temperature of at least 50° C. and recovering the fermentation product from said liquor; and (iii) subjecting the fermentation liquor obtained in step (ii) to a solids-liquid separation stage to separate the suspended solids and remove the suspended solids from the liquor, wherein the solids-liquid separation stage is assisted by a treatment system, and wherein the treatment system comprises an anionic polymer selected from natural polymers and modified natural polymers having an anionic charge such that the equivalent weight is below 300, and synthetic polymers, the anionic polymer is formed from at least 50% by weight anionic monomer units and said anionic monomer units are selected from the group consisting of (meth)acrylic acids or salts, maleic acid or salts, itaconic acid or salts and fumaric acid or salts.