The investigation on penicillin production and product purification

Growth and penicillin biosynthesis by two strains of penicillium chrysogenum; PTCC 5031, PTCC 5033, in synthetic media were investigated. Experimental efforts have been made to determine the biomass and penicillin yield in shaking flasks and fermentor with glucose and lactose as carbon sources. Lactose is fermented at a much slower rate, but it is a better sugar for penicillin production. The ratio 3:1 of lactose:glucose has been determined for the optimum media. As the strain PTCC 5031 produce 4 times greater than the other strain, it was determined as the best strain. A novel three-liquid-phase extraction system consisting of butyl acetate, poly ethylene glycol, ammonia sulfate and water has been studied. In this stage nearly 80% of Penicillin has been recovered. In the case of optimization the process the factors affecting penicillin extraction including initial concentration of phase-forming components, PEG molecular weight, pH and initial concentration of penicillin have been investigated. Penicillin G preferentially were partitioned into the middle phases with increasing initial concentration of phase forming components in such system. It is desired to enhance penicillin partition into the top phase. This is possible by pH decreasing.