Penicillin ProductionDerek Lee, Jerren Grimes, Kevin Mangaudis, Timothy Cheung

History◼Discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 when

Fleming noticed that a mold growing on his bacterial culture plate was killing the surrounding bacteria.

◼Isolated and purified the substrate escreted by the Penicillin notatum. The substrate is now known as penicillin.

What is Penicillin?◼One of the first antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections.

◼The beta-lactam ring of penicillin binds to DD-transpeptidase to prevent it from forming the cross links in the bacterial cell wall.

◼The bacteria cells eventually undergo cytolysis due to the weakened cell wall

How is Penicillin Manufactured

Prompt◼Market Forecasting ◼Considerations:

1. Build new modern plant with:

◼ Penicillium chrysogenum growing on glucose

◼ Convenential batch process or continuous

◼ A crystalline product will be obtained after solvent extraction of the beer with amyl acetate or butyl acetate.

2. Keep current plant and use as a cash cow

5 million pounds of penicillin-G required by 2000 •

Project Plan