Development of a more efficient emulsion liquid membrane system with a dilute polymer solution for extraction of penicillin G

So as to find a more efficient emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) system for extraction of penicillin G from simulated media, further study was done on batch and continuous ELM systems with a dilute polymer solution in addition to our previous ELM work examined in more detail in this work. The study was carried out in the batch ELM system varying membrane composition and Na2CO3 concentration in the internal phase. Compared to the previous work, the polymer-dissolved ELM system with higher concentrations of Na2CO3 in the internal phase and lower concentrations of surfactant in the membrane phase produced much higher extraction efficiency. Also, an optimized emulsion composition from the batch system was applied to continuous extraction of penicillin G in the extraction column of Oldshue–Rushton type, and in view of the fact that high enrichment ratio of penicillin G was still obtained, development of a practical ELM system for penicillin G extraction seemed feasible.