Penicillin Crystal

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Problem definition Design a process for production of dry penicillin crystals including block diagram with steps and required calculations Conditions 1) Penicillin production is inhibited by glucose 2) Dissociated penicillin dissolves well in water 3) Undissociated penicillin dissolves well in solvents 4) Penicillin can be hydrolyzed to unusable compounds in aqueous solutions with the rate proportional to concentration of H+ ions (acidity) 5) Mycelium cake is required to contain low concentration penicillin 6) Penicillin is a secondary metabolite and is only produced in stationary phase Penicillin production consists of a number of steps the first of which is fermentation. The purpose of the fermentation is to convert substrate to penicillin.…show more content…
Penicillin has to be separated from unrelated components. It can be done by filtration or centrifugation. Different kinds of filtrations are currently available. The most common filter is rotary vaccum filter as it can run in continuous mode. The pH of extraction is recommended to be maintained at 6.0-6.5 to avoid loss of activity by penicillin. The alternative to this is centrifugation which allows to separate solid waste from liquid which contains penicillin. Obtained supernatant is used in DSP. Centrifugation is considered to be a better method in continuous…show more content…
The used acetate solutions are mixed with phosphate buffer which is followed by mixing with chloroform solution, than again with phosphate buffer and then with ether solution. Acidity should be neutralized to prevent any further hydrolysis. Penicillin in ether solution is mixed with with sodium bicarbonate. As a result of this mixing penicillin-sodium salt is obtained that can be stored as a stable powder at room temperature. The penicillin-sodium salt is obtained from the liquid material by basket centrifugation, in which solids are easily removed. Finally, drying is performed to remove any residual moisture from the penicillin salt. This is usually done by hot gas

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