African Nationhood

Chapter 341 Difficulties with Penicillin (Part )

Rong Kui laughed again after hearing Cai Ya's words, "Then what is your problem?"

"We found that there was a problem with the pH measurement of the fermentation broth. Our research found that Penicillium fermentation requires temperature control between 20-24 degrees Celsius.

Humidity for fermentation is less important than temperature.

pH is another important point. The best growth environment for Penicillium is a strong acid environment. Once it becomes a weak alkaline environment, it will easily die.

Moreover, the metabolites of Penicillium are alkaline. After Penicillium fermentation begins, the pH of the fermentation liquid will change rapidly to an alkaline environment. This means that we urgently need a tool that can detect pH. "

Hearing this, Rong Kui understood.

"I understand what you are saying. 'Litmus paper' is not a clear and intuitive response to pH, right?"

"Well, yes, Mr. Shi reminded us that we can develop a new type of test paper based on the 'litmus paper'.

Detailed changes in pH are shown through the color change of the test paper. "

After listening to his wife's words, Rong Kui scratched his head and asked, "Does Mr. Shi have any clearer instructions?"

Cai Ya's eyes widened, "If so, why would we come to you?"

Rong Hong chuckled, "Well, I need to think about this carefully. Have you guys done any preliminary research?"

"Yes, but they went home this weekend."

Rong Kui nodded, "That's just right. Let's go home together. I miss you."

Cai Ya didn't expect her husband to say such words here. She said "hmm", but quickly reacted, "No, we are on duty today, and our fermentation factory cannot be left unattended."

Rong Kui had no choice but to compromise, "Then I'll stay here with you at the head office."

"Okay, my current duty is to be on duty, and you have never been to our factory. Let me show you around here."

Rong Kui nodded, "Let's go."

……

The rain outside had stopped, and the two of them were walking around aimlessly in the fermentation factory. They chatted from time to time along the way.

When the workers in the factory saw the two of them, they kept coming over to say hello, which made Cai Ya a little embarrassed, so the two of them walked into the nearby bacterial strain laboratory.

This is a large laboratory where technicians in white coats are busy in a quiet and orderly manner.

Seeing so many researchers studying petri dishes one by one, he asked curiously: "Hasn't your research begun to be put into practical use? Why are you still studying strains?"

Cai Ya sighed, "This Penicillium is very complex. Our initial research was conducted under the guidance of Mr. Shi, and the strain selection was very random at that time.

Later, as the research deepened, we found that different bacterial colonies produced different amounts of penicillin.

So we started to screen for high-yielding strains, so we tried various natural culture media such as steamed buns, steamed buns, cantaloupe, citrus and melon, and finally found a high-yielding strain on a melon.

The penicillin production of this strain is 200 times that of the strain we originally selected. Isn’t this already impressive?

However, the yield was still very small. Later, Mr. Shi reminded us that Penicillium would mutate under ultraviolet irradiation, so we started to irradiate the high-yielding melon bacteria again.

Prompt them to mutate, but unfortunately those high-yielding bacteria are too fragile and always die easily.

After more than 2 years of hard work, we obtained a strain that increased production 1000 times compared to the original colony.

This discovery makes our researchers very excited, but we know that this road has no end, and we must continue to experiment and cultivate to find higher and stronger strains. "

Hearing this, Rong Kui nodded, "This job of yours is similar to the work of selecting high-quality seeds in the agricultural department, but you can't stop."

Cai Ya nodded, "Well, by the way, there is also a problem with our culture medium. Why don't you give us some advice?"

"Okay, do you have the recipe list for the culture solution?" Cai Ya took Rong Kui back to the fermentation workshop. There was a confidential briefcase in the office over there.

Rong Kui was stunned for a moment when he saw the words "Top Secret" printed on the briefcase.

"Is that okay?"

Cai Ya smiled and said, "I have asked Mr. Shi for permission to invite you here. He agreed, so I called you."

Rong Kui said "Oh" and then opened the briefcase.

There were a lot of documents in the briefcase, and Rong Kui looked through it for a while before he saw the fermentation liquid formula table.

The writing on it is very delicate, and you can tell it is my wife's handwriting at a glance.

Tentative formula list for Penicillium fermentation broth (end date: January 1896, 1).

Category and solubility are as follows:

Glucose solution 1%
  Alcohol 80%
  Lactose 1%
  Calcium carbonate 1%
  Sodium hydrogen phosphate 0.4%
  Potassium dihydrogen phosphate 1.5g/L
  Potassium sulfate 5g/L
  Ammonium sulfate 12g/L
  Corn extract 8.5%
  After reading the ingredient list, Rong Kui didn't find any problem, "What is your problem?"

Cai Ya came close to Rong Kui, stood on tiptoes and pointed at the corn leachate above: "This thing is very wasteful. We must process the corn first to get the leachate.

The processed corn is wasted and can only be used as livestock feed. We want to improve this material and reduce our reliance on food crops such as corn. "

After listening to his wife's words, Rong Kui nodded, "Have you ever tested the ingredients of this corn extract?"

"We have done it. It mainly contains various amino acids and trace mineral elements. We speculate that Penicillium also needs these things to grow quickly."

"Then it's simple. We can try other raw materials, and the leach liquor has the same components as the corn leach liquor."

Cai Ya nodded, "We have tried the extract components of bean cakes, peanut cakes and other leguminous plants, but there are still gaps."

Rong Kui thought for a while, then looked up at his wife, "Have you ever thought about using cotton seeds?"

"Cotton seeds?"

"Well, cottonseed has a high protein and tryptophan content. After detoxification, it can completely replace soybeans as livestock feed. I studied this when I was in college in the United States."

After listening to her husband's suggestion, Cai Ya immediately took her husband to the laboratory and planned to try it.

After several days of experiments, the couple determined that cottonseed cake leachate could completely replace corn leachate.

Moreover, cottonseed has limited uses and is extremely cheap in Nanhua Company or other major cotton-producing countries in the world, so it is a good substitute.

Then Rong Kui formed a special test paper team at Harbin Pharmaceutical Factory No. 1. After more than a month of experimental trials, they developed a new type of test paper.

This test paper uses the hydrogen ion content in the solution as the main test standard, and uses three raw materials, methyl red, bromocresol green, and thymol blue, to display different colors when combined with hydrogen ions.

Created a new type of exact pH value test paper for testing pH, and applied for patents in Europe and the United States.

This new type of test paper was developed by a team led by Rong Kui, and it was named "Rong's test paper" after this test paper.

With the blessing of Rong's test paper, the research and development process of the Penicillium fermentation plant of Hacheng Pharmaceutical Factory No. 1 has been greatly assisted.

Boss Shi couldn't help but smile when he got the report from the medical department.

The long march of industrial production of penicillin has finally taken a big step forward, but there are still greater difficulties to overcome next!

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  (End of this chapter)