Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

NEW SYSTEM FOR PENICILLIN First All-Electronic Drying System for Producing Wonder Drug. Developed at RCA Laboratories. Is Announced at Exposition. SPECTACULAR progress of the Radio Corporation of America in efforts to eliminate one of the chief bottlenecks in the production of penicillin was revealed at the National Chemical Exposition in Chicago on November 18. Appear- ing there in a symposium of ex- perts on high-frequency heating, Dr. George H. Brown, of RCA Lab- oratories, announced completion of the first all-electronic drying sys- tem for producing the wonder drug •—a process by which ready-to-use ampuls of penicillin can be obtained at the rate of 200,000,000 Oxford units an hour from a single RCA installation. This is much faster than the conventional "freeze-dry- ing" method. Output at this rate, based on around-the-clock operation, would in one month exceed the combined production of all the penicillin plants in the United States during a 30-day period six months ago, ac- cording to Dr. Brown. Yet, he told the audience of chemists at the Chi- cago Coliseum, the electronic in- stallation requires less floor space than an average business office, 20- by-20 feet. Recalling that last June he and his associates, R. A. Bierwirth and C. N. Hoyler, built and installed at the penicillin plant of E. R. Squibb & Sons the first part of the new system. Dr. Brown said that it con- sisted of an electronic dehydrator, about the size of an up-ended desk. This completed in 30 minutes an operation that required 24 hours by "freeze-drying" in the bulk-reduc- tion of penicillin solution, a vital step in production. Success with the equipment at VIALS OF PENICILLIN CONCENTRATE ROTATE AT ;!,000 RPM UNDER MODERATE VACUUM WHILE RADIO hUEQUENCY HEAT IS APPLIED IN THIS CHAMBER DEVELOPED AT RCA LABORA- lORIES, AS A PART OF ITS ALL-ELECTRONIC SYSTEM FOR DEHYDRATING THE WONDER DRUG. S(|uibb's led to experiments in which Dr. Brown and his associates attempted to apply the electronic science of radio-frequency heating to the final phase of production— tliat of reducing the concentrated penicillin solution of 100,000 Ox- ford units per cubic centimeter to a dry state in ampuls or vials for shipment to places of urgency des- ignated by the War Production Board. Since ordinary heat methods de- stroy the effectiveness of penicillin, plants under WPB control have been achieving bulk-reduction of penicillin solution and the final dry- ing process through the use of dry ice and a high vacuum at below freezing temperatures. The RCA scientists discovered that in a mod- erate vacuum they could boil and evaporate the solution at 50 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature that does no harm to the drug during its brief period of exposure. This knowledge was helpful in tackling the final problem, but it was found that when the vacuum was applied to the 20 cc. bottles containing 1 cc. of concentrated l)enicillin solution, the liquid foamed and much of it was lost. This ap- peared to be an insurmountable obstacle for a while. Then it oc- curred to the scientists that revolv- ing the bottles at a speed high enough to cause the liquid to form a thin layer around the walls of the bottle might solve the problem. Dr. Brown and his associates de- signed such a rotator and were re- warded by the discovery that it not only worked but the thin layer of liquid would evaporate much faster than anticipated. They next built a vacuum chamber out of — of all things — a reconditioned porthole frame and window—and in it they placed thirty-four rotators that could spin up to 3,000 revolutions a minute. They used three metal belts between the circling rows of the rotators as electronic plates and caused radio-frequency current to flow between the plates. [RADIO AGE 23]