Aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) is an efficient implement for separation of various substrates, and extracted by an aqueous two-phase system has been successfully applied in the downstream processing of various biological compounds. In this research, the extraction of oxytetracycline hydrochloride (OTC•HCl) was carried out in an aqueous two-phase system containing acetone and ammonium sulfate solution, which partitioned the antibiotic to the upper phase. The effects of some parameters on the extraction efficiency of OTC•HCl were studied in detail, including temperature, the volume of acetone, the pH value of ammonium sulfate solution, the concentrations of (NH4)2SO4 and OTC•HCl. The results showed that the volume of acetone, the pH value of ammonium sulfate solution and the concentration of OTC•HCl in feed had significant effects on the extraction efficiency of OTC•HCl, but the effects of temperature on the extraction of OTC•HCl was not obvious.


JUAN HAN, SHI PING HU, YUN WANG AND JING JING MA