The continuous extraction of penicillin G from simulated media was performed by water-in oil-in water (W/O/W) emulsion liquid membranes (ELMs) and was experimentally studied under various operating conditions in a countercurrent mixing column(CMC).
Effect of various expermental conditions such as stirrer speed, W/O ratio, flow rate, carrier concentration, surfactant concentration penicillin concentration in the external phase, $Na_2CO_3$ concentration and organic solvent type on concentration profile along the column length was investigated.
The degree of the extraction in a CMC was mainly affected by the holdup of the emulsion drops and by the initial extraction rate. Stirrer speed and emulsion inlet rate significantly affected the amount of the hold-up of the dispersed phase (volume of dispersed phase to total active part volume of the CMC).
In the simulation, an axial dispersion model was applied for a continuous phase. For permeation of penicillin G in a dispersed phase, the external mass transfer around the emulsion drop, the reaction in the external interface and the diffusion as well as the reaction equilibrium in the W/O emulsion drop were taken into account.
