This paper is to characterize terramycin and penicillin bacterial residues from the microbial fermentation process in the pharmaceutical industry. Element analyzer instrument, atomic absorption spectrophotometer(AAS), high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) analysis, DTG-60H instrument, XRY-1B oxygen bomb calorimeter and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer(FTIR) are employed to identify the two samples in order to investigate the physical and chemical characteristics. The results show that the bacterial residues contain characteristically high carbon and oxygen levels, which are more than 40% and 30%,respectively. The concentrations of inorganic components, seven heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Cd, Zn, As, Ni and Hg) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are low. The main functional group are O—H and C—C, which are the characteristic functional groups of protein, cellulose and other organic substances. The pyrolysis process of terramycin and penicillin bacterial residues has three stages, and most of the organic materials are decomposed at the second stage.Additionally, the calorific values of terramycin and penicillin bacterial residues are 16894kJ/kg and 17641kJ/kg, respectively.