An antibiotic called geldanamycin was separated from media by the capsular perstraction. Geldanamycin is hydrophobic.  Outer particle diameter varied from than less 500 to 750 µm. Alginate formed the shell of capsule and its thickness varied from 30 to 90 µm. Dibutyl sebacate or oleic acid as liquid core extracted geldanamycin well. The bigger agitation and thinner capsule membrane were, the faster transfer rate was.
Geldanamycin was back-extracted from capsules. Dibutyl sebacate capsules were disposable because liquid core came out from capsules in the back-extraction. On the contrary, oleic acid remained in capsules during the back-extraction when an extractant was saturated with oleic acid. Nevertheless, the presence of oleic acid in the back-extraction solution demanded more purification steps (precipitation, centrifugation and filtration). Oleic acid was removed because it prevents crystallization of geldanamycin. Therefore, geldanamycin was crystallized and the end product was highly purified.
Enzymes can be immobilized to the capsule membrane. In this case, the capsule external diameter was 500 µm and internal diameter 300 µm. The product of enzyme-catalyzed reaction can be concentrated to capsules and the end-product inhibition is low. Enzyme recycling could be performed by back-extracting the product. The technique has been applied to the hydrolysis of penicillin G.