New filters help debug penicillin process and feed the chickents
15 Jan 2000
Synpac Pharmaceuticals makes a tenth of the world's supply of penicillin G at its plant in Cambois, Northumberland. A recent improvement to the process has helped the company increase its recovery of the penicillin active ingredient while also providing food for farm animals.
The penicillin production process involves making a culture of mycelia yeast on rice, which is then transferred to a fermentation vessel and mixed with sugars and other compounds. After the fermentation is complete, the tank contains a liquid, which contains the penicillin, and solid mycelia waste. The solids and the liquids are separated, and the liquid extracted with solvents to remove the penicillin.
Traditionally, the company separated the solids and liquids in rotary drum vacuum filters, and disposed of the mycelia in the sea. Mycelia isn't toxic, but it does consume oxygen as it biodegrades, so the company was anxious to find a process which would provide it with a better disposal route. Moreover, it wanted to make the process more efficient the vacuum filters produce a fairly wet cake containing a significant amount of penicillin, which is lost.
Working with Larox, Synpac found that replacing the vacuum filters with automatic pressure filters gave it a drier filter cake and clearer filtrate, as well as lower penicillin loss. The filter cake is dried, then loaded into bags as a protein-rich animal feed.
