Salinomycin Granules Process Improvement

Salinomycin is a polyether ionophore antibiotic, which is produced by the Streptomyces albus. Salinomycin granules are widely used in animal production with antibacterial effects, low toxicity and persistence. Salinomycin granules are one of the most promising veterinary drugs because of the simplicity of manufcaturing process and accessible and affordable raw materials. In order to improve the productivity, pretreatment of fermentation broth and mycelium slurry was tested. Spray, spin flash and extrusion processes for granulation were optimized.Through multi-batch experiments, salinomycin fermentation broth was pretreated at 60-65℃and pH 3.5-4.5, and the yield rate reached to 98%. In the filtering process, sodium hydroxide was used as sopnifier, 2% perlite, 2% diatomite and 6-10% light calcium carbonate were added as filter-aids to adjust the salinomycin content. The solid content of mycelium slurry reached 25-30% by controlling pH 8.5-9.5 and adding an appropriate proportion of light calcium carbonate to saponify oil lipids. The basic materials for granules were composed of 50 kg corn flour, 100 kg bentonite and 80 kg calcium carbonate. Granules were sprayed under 4 MPa with 70℃of discharge air temperature and 50 HZ of the air volume of the blower.The optimized processes were applied to the large-scale production. In pretreatment of fermentation broth, the clarification was faster and the clarifying time was shorted from 12 h to 4-6h. The pretreatment temperature was decreased from 80℃to 60-65℃, the power comsuption was reduced. The condensation ratio from 75% to 55-60% led to the efficiency of spray granulation over 50%. New product formulation with the specific gravity of 0.7g/ml was developed. The average monthly recovery rate increased from 82.6% to 93.4%, and production capacity increased 50% by using the new process. The average monthly granularity rate of 12% salinomycin granules increased from 72.3% to 88.8%. The average monthly cost reduced from 21.0$/ BOU to 15.7$/BOU, lowering 25.2%. The full use of the facilitis and various products made the company competitiveness in salinomycin granules marketing.