As one of the most commonly used laboratory instruments today, centrifuges provide an efficient method to prepare and separate samples of varying densities, often for scientific and medical purposes. This form of density-driven preparation has been around for centuries.
Tapioca starch production project using centrifuges
Filtration and sediment removal systems have long been used by humans to purify liquids. However, prior to their introduction, this was usually done by gravity. For example, to separate cream from milk, raw milk would be left for a long time so that the lighter cream would float to the surface for skimming.
Early centrifuges were developed to speed up this process. For example, in 1864, the first dairy centrifuge was developed, which used a hand-cranked spinner to separate cream from milk.
Michel's success in isolating nucleic acids from the nuclei of white blood cells in a crude centrifuge system developed in 1869 was an important advance in the discovery of DNA inheritance.
Inventor Gustaf de Laval introduced the steam-driven 4,000 rpm centrifugal milk separator in 1877, which helped enable large-scale dairy processing.
In the early 1900s, major centrifugal advances led to medical breakthroughs. For example, in the 1920s, Swedish chemist Theodor Svedberg developed an ultra-fast centrifuge - which could reach 900,000 grams - that allowed researchers to accurately weigh proteins. Eventually, Svedberg won the Nobel Prize for his invention.
Improved centrifugation techniques appeared in the 1930s and 1940s, including the ability to isolate viruses. By the early 1930s, biologists could use centrifuges to isolate cellular structures. Through the work of these scientists, techniques for true cell separation through centrifuges could be achieved and subsequently improved. For example, an early inventor, Edward Pickels, eventually founded Specialized Instruments Corp (Spinco) in the late 1940s. The company would go on to develop centrifuges with speeds of 40,000 rpm.
Centrifugal technology and innovations have evolved rapidly from the 1950s to the present. For example, in the 1950s, electric motors were standardized to allow for faster rotation and spinning.
During this time, different types of centrifuges were also introduced and industrially modified. Two modern industrial centrifuges, the filtration and sedimentation centrifuge, were introduced to aid industrial filtration. To date, there are more than 200 industrial applications for centrifuges. For example, the Interfil IC45-AV is a high-speed centrifuge used in many industries for any type of solid and liquid separation.
The first microprocessor-controlled centrifuge was introduced in 1976 at ACHEMA by Hettich, an innovation ahead of its time. Then Beckman introduced floor-mounted ultracentrifuges in the 1980s and Eppendorf introduced personal centrifuges in 2000. Since then, centrifuge technology has continued to improve commercially and is now used for density separation (as originally developed), isotope separation, aerospace and geotechnical simulation. With the widespread use of medicine and biotechnology, particularly in protein and nucleic acid research, centrifuges will undoubtedly continue to evolve and prove essential in the laboratory.
In food processing, centrifuges are used to purify olive oil and separate the oil from solids and other contaminants. Modern fuel and biofuel processing requires filter centrifuges to purify fuels, and finally centrifugal systems are used in wastewater treatment to remove solids and microscopic wastes from treated water.
All of these industrial applications are based on these early innovations and are still advancing.
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