Process Intensification through Continuous Manufacturing: Implications for Unit Operation and Process Design

Abstract

The sections in this article are

Continuous manufacturing – the Green Chemistry promise?

“…34 In addition to building the Singapore plant for GSK, Zeton, a global equipment and process technology supplier, recently helped design, build and install a continuous API manufacturing skid for GSK in their Global R&D hub in Upper Providence, Pa. 35 These implementations represents important advances, but continuous manufacturing and Green Chemistry's true potential will only be achieved if researchers are rewarded for innovation through the introduction of Green and continuous processes from a top-down "business excellence" decision as it requires a joint team and organizational effort. 14 A balance between in-house manufacturing and the utilization of CMOs has always existed in the pharmaceutical industry. If a significant transition to Green and continuous manufacturing for pharmaceutical companies' pipelines transpires, then CMOs must also adapt continuous manufacturing and Green approaches.…”

“…There are a number of excellent reviews on Green Chemistry and its benefits, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] but few of these reviews focus on continuous manufacturing and its potential for advancing applications of Green Chemistry principles. [12][13][14] For new adopters of the technology, we begin by providing a high-level introduction to continuous manufacturing and its intrinsic link to Green Chemistry principles. We focus on how manufacturing, regulatory and research organizations, and the implementation of continuous manufacturing will aid efforts to advance the 12 principles of Green Chemistry.…”

An enantio- and diastereoselective approach to indoloquinolizidines in continuous flow

“…With no doubt, the formulation of the principles of green chemistry has boosted the interest on continuous-flow chemistry and has contributed to the paradigm change from batch to flow in academic laboratories as well as in industrial chemical manufacturing, since work in continuous flow brings “intrinsic greenness” to overall processes. 6,7 The encouragement and recommendations from various regulatory agencies in favour of the implementation of continuous manufacturing at industrial level unlocks the preferential choice of this alternative over conventional batch reactions, 8 and the reason for that can be found in the fact that flow processes, when implementable, offer clear advantages over batch processing from both the economic and the technical points of view. Thus, flow processes can be easily engineered to provide improved heat and mass transfer, by-product minimization, rapid reactions, scalability, superheating of solvents, real-time analysis, safety control, and the possibility of a 24/7 working regime.…”