With the continuous advancement of technology, membrane separation technology and continuous moving bed technology have gradually replaced traditional equipment such as plate and frame filtration and fixed beds in the process of antibiotic extraction. They have effectively solved problems such as poor antibiotic quality, backward production processes, and poor production environment. Membrane separation technology and continuous moving bed technology are widely applied in the production of antibiotics, including penicillin, cephalosporins, erythromycin, and streptomycin sulfate.
Process flow for extracting antibiotics from membranes:
Traditional antibiotic extraction process: Fermentation broth → Filtration or centrifugation or adsorption and extraction with macroporous resin → Concentration → Decolorization → Drying → Product.
The membrane separation technology process can be simplified as follows: fermentation broth → ultrafiltration → nanofiltration (or reverse osmosis) → decolorization → drying → product.
Antibiotic extraction membrane technology:
The traditional process was improved by using ceramic membrane ultrafiltration (with membrane pore size of 50nm) technology to separate and purify the fermentation broth of Streptomyces acidophilus after acidification. This replaced the traditional plate-and-frame filtration technology. When the concentration reached 3 times, intermittent water dialysis was carried out to increase the yield to over 95%, significantly improving the yield and quality of the product.
The de-sugaring and purification system utilizes a nanofiltration membrane separation technology with high separation efficiency and a molecular weight cut-off of 600 to conduct de-sugaring treatment on the ultrafiltration filtrate. The permeate from the nanofiltration process contains only monosaccharide substances and can be discharged into the sewage treatment pipeline. The nanofiltration process is entirely a physical process, operated at room temperature, with phase change, low energy consumption, stable product quality, and a sulfate penicillin yield of over 95%.
Membrane separation technology and continuous moving bed technology have extensive applications in the antibiotic industry:
1. Replace the traditional filtration methods such as plate and frame with ceramic membranes and flat membranes to clarify the fermentation solution, improve the quality of the filtrate, and reduce resin contamination and solvent usage in the subsequent processes.
2. Use ultrafiltration membranes for protein removal and decolorization, achieving high quality.
3. Use nanofiltration membranes for concentrating antibiotics, replacing or shortening the evaporation concentration time; increasing the crystallization yield or reducing the evaporation loss
4. Replace the fixed bed with a continuous moving bed, which can reduce resin usage and lower the unit consumption.
5. Membrane technology is used to recover various mother liquors, waste liquids, and reclaimed middle water for reuse.
The membrane separation technology has the following characteristics when applied to antibiotics:
The separation accuracy is high, the filtrate is clear and transparent, with low impurity content, significantly reducing the difficulty of subsequent processing.
2. It can be separated at room temperature, which is suitable for the separation, concentration and purification of heat-sensitive substances (such as drugs, fruits, enzymes, etc.).
3. It can achieve high concentration, and compared with traditional processes, it can significantly increase the product yield (by 5-12%). The concentrated bacteria can be recycled and reused as feed.
4. Significantly reduces water consumption and minimizes wastewater discharge.
5. The accompanying ion exchange resins and macroporous adsorption resins can extend the service life by 2 to 3 times.
6. Asymmetric membrane pore size distribution, which is less prone to contamination and can maintain long-term stable filtration under high flux conditions;
7. The membrane elements have a long service life, are easy to regenerate at low cost, and the operation process is stable, ensuring the quality of the products can be fully guaranteed.
8. The membrane materials and auxiliary equipment are all made of non-polluting materials, and they comply with GMP standards.
9. It can achieve fully automatic control by the PLC upper computer. The operation is simple, significantly reducing labor intensity, and it is easy to clean and maintain.
10. Coupled with nanofiltration concentration, a membrane integration system is formed.
