Abstract: A metabolite, e.g., ethanol, is continuously produced from low cost carbohydrate substrates by a process which comprises pulverizing the carbohydrate substrate; liquefying and saccharifying the pulverized substrate; continuously fermenting the lique-saccharified substrate in a fermentor equipped with a moving filter, in the presence of flocculent biological cells maintained at a concentration ranging from 90 to 160 g/l by using the moving filter and a culture medium to produce a fermentation product mixture; and recovering the desired metabolite from the fermentation product mixture.

Abstract: A method for producing protein in a cell-free system uses cell-free extract required for protein production, extracted from a biological cell. According to the present invention, a wide range of proteins can be produced economically and efficiently even in a semi-continuous operation mode, by regenerating energy source, increasing operation time of the reactor with porous solid material and using selective protein isolating means having high specific affinity to a desired protein. Thus, problems appearing in the living cell (in vivo) system due to the absence of post-translational processing can be avoided and the total production amount can be greatly increased due to prolonged operation time of the reactor and increased protein productivity.