Hydrophobic Adsorption Followed by Desorption with Ethanol–Water for Recovery of Penicillin G from Fermentation Broth

[Image: see text] The hydrophobic adsorption is an alternative to traditional organic solvent extraction for the recovery and purification of Penicillin G (PenG). However, there is a lack of information concerning the effect of process variables and technical feasibility while balancing product degradation. After assessing the integrity of PenG under different conditions, Amberlite XAD-4 was selected from among three different adsorbents. During the batch process using only 0.05 g(XAD-4)/mL(medium), the adsorption yield increased from 36% at pH 6 to 44% at pH 4. More than 90% of the antibiotic was captured from the fermentation broth using 0.083 g(XAD-4)/mL(medium) in a 45 min batch performed at pH 4 and 4 °C. Moreover, there was no PenG degradation. The desorption conditions were evaluated, and 95% of the antibiotic could be recovered in only one batch using water–ethanol, which is an unexplored PenG desorption process. The results showed selective adsorption, indicating that the process can also be useful for purification purposes. Hydrophobic adsorption with ethanol desorption is efficient, scalable, and green and could be used in place of traditional methods or in extractive fermentation.