Membrane separation technology is a technique that uses external energy and selective permeable membranes as separation media to separate, classify, and enrich two or more components of gases or liquids. Starting from the 1930s, semi permeable cellulose membranes were used to separate and recover caustic soda. Since the 1960s, with the advancement of asymmetric membrane manufacturing technology, various membrane separation techniques have been increasingly widely applied and become one of the important separation technologies.

Membrane separation technology is a combination of materials science and medium separation technology, which has the advantages of high efficiency, precise separation, simple equipment, energy saving, and no pollution. It is widely used in the industrial field and has developed rapidly in the fields of food, medicine, and biochemistry. According to statistics, the sales of membranes are growing at a rate of 14% to 30% per year, with the biopharmaceutical market becoming its largest market.

In recent years, the extraction of antibiotics has become one of the key areas for promoting membrane separation technology, and research on it is very active. Membrane separation technology has replaced traditional separation and purification techniques, simplifying the production process of antibiotics, saving organic solvents, reducing the degradation of target products during extraction, increasing product yield, and reducing environmental pollution. At present, antibiotic membrane separation technology is mainly used for clarification of fermentation broth, product concentration and desalination, as well as extraction of antibiotics from waste liquid.

Antibiotics are generally divided into seven categories: beta lactams, aminoglycosides, macrolides, tetracyclines, lincomycin, amino sterols, and peptides. Most antibiotics have a relative molecular weight between 300 and 1200 and exist in liquids. The traditional separation methods are generally drum filtration, plate and frame filtration, and centrifugal separation. Compared with traditional processes, using antibiotic membrane separation technology to treat fermentation broth has the advantages of high yield, good quality, low cost, and less waste liquid.

Antibiotic membrane separation engineering has become an important means of technological innovation in modern pharmaceutical industry. In today's world where product quality requirements are constantly increasing and production costs are constantly decreasing, the advantages of antibiotic membrane separation technology are becoming increasingly apparent, and it will replace traditional inefficient separation technologies. However, the large-scale application of antibiotic membrane separation technology has only begun in recent decades. Although research is currently very active, most of it is still in the experimental stage, and there are still some limitations in practical applications.

Although antibiotic membrane separation technology is still some distance away from industrial requirements, with the continuous development of new membrane materials and the continuous research on efficient membrane process separation technology, antibiotic membrane separation technology will be more widely applied.