50 % of reactions in the fine chemical/pharmaceutical industry could benefit from a continuous process based mainly on microreactor technology. However, the frequent presence of a solid phase still hinders the widespread application of such a technology as a multi-purpose solution. For small scale and pilot productions, speed in process R&D, as well as the avoidance of scale-up issues, are the main drivers. On the other hand, for large scale productions, a gain in yield and safety are the main motivations for the use of micoreactor technology. The gain in yield must be significant in order to cope with the increase in capital expenditure associated with the development of a new technology.
Microreactors have shown their ability to improve chemical processes and routes; however, their integration into chemical production processes depends not only on technical advances. Cost issues and productions logistics play a crucial role, too, and are highlighted with two different case studies. Economical drivers for the pharmaceutical industry are described with emphasis on future development of microprocess engineering.
Microstructured devices offer unique transport capabilities for rapid mixing, enhanced heat and mass transfer and can handle small amounts of dangerous or unstable materials. The integration of reaction kinetics into fluid dynamics and transport phenomena is essential for successful application from process design in laboratory to chemical production. Strategies to implement production campaigns up to tons of pharmaceutical chemicals are discussed, based on Lonza projects.
The paper presents an analysis of chemical production requirements in an exclusive synthesis market environment and describes how this analysis guided the development of a modular multi-injection reactor. Detailed engineering of a reactor in the light of the requirements of an organometallic reaction, as well as characterization of the reactor is reported. This reactor has provided the target chemistry result at Lonza Ltd. as detailed in a companion paper.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.