Antibiotics are organic chemical substances used as medicines. Antibiotics cure people by inhibiting growth of and killing harmful microorganism causing illness.
Antibiotics are manufactured on large scale by fermentation process in which large amount of antibiotic producing organisms are grown. During fermentation the organisms produce the antibiotics, Which are then isolated and separated for use as drug.
Before fermentation begins the culture for the antibiotics is taken from previously isolated antibiotics kept in cold storage, and is cultured in laboratory, and mixed with food and other nutrients in a liquid suspension in a flask. This is then used for seeding in seed tanks.
The the seed tanks contain fermentation broth suited for providing all the nutrients for the growth of antibiotics and are maintain at ideal condition for growth of culture.
It takes about 24 to 48 hours to complete the process of seeding, After this the material in seeding tanks is transferred to primary fermentation tanks.
The fermentation tanks are similar to seed tanks but much larger, and contain similar nutrients. It takes about 3 to five days to produce optimum amount of antibiotics material in the fermentation tanks. After this the [process of isolating the antibiotic begins.
Depending on the nature of antibiotics and its property such as solubility in water other solvents o, different methods of isolating the antibiotic from rest of the material in the fermentation tank is used. The end product of this isolation process is a powder like form of concentrated antibiotic. However this material needs to be purified further.
The base antibiotic powder is then purified and refined further to yield different grades and types of antibiotics.
The bulk quantities of antibiotics thus obtained are converted into suitable forms like pills, gelatin capsules, syringes and intravenous bags, suitable for administering to patients. These products are then suitably packed and dispatched for selling and use.
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