The Minafin Group sees continuous processes of all kinds as driving its growth in many industries . We spoke with company executives
The Minafin Group , which includes the pharmaceutical CDMO Minakem among other subsidiaries , invests continuously in R & D . In particular , it describes continuous processes , electrochemistry and photochemistry as “ three of our spearheads ” and has recent investments to announce in all of them . The group as a whole has already used commercial-scale continuous processes , such as vapour phase hydrogenation and liquid-phase trickle bed hydrogenation , to produce a variety of speciality molecules based on furfural chemistry . These are routinely used at its PennAkem subsidiary at Memphis , Tennessee . “ We started to work on flow chemistry in 2017 ,” says Jean-Louis Brayer , research director at Minafin . “ At the beginning , this was carried out at lab scale using lab equipment . Now we have taken the decision to invest in a platform dedicated to flow chemistry .” “ Flow chemistry is not universal . Batch and flow are complementary but some technologies , such as electrochemistry and photochemistry are better adapted to flow . This is why we would like to go further with this technology .”
Driven by pharma
This investment is in progress and Brayer expects it to be operational later this year . The main driver for it says Olivier Jentzer , R & D director , is demand from the pharmaceutical market , where certain kinds of special molecules can be made using flow , electrochemistry and photochemistry . Minakem is totally focused on pharmaceuticals , but other markets are of interest to the Minafin Group as a whole . Its other affiliates include Minasolve , Minagro , Minascent , EcoXtract and Pressure Chemicals , as well as PennAkem . These variously serve such markets as agrochemicals , flavours and fragrances , cosmetics , electronics and other high-tech industries . PennAkem , indeed , already uses flow chemistry in the production of PDO , which is used in place of paraben for cosmetic formulations , using a continuous trickle-bed . “ The main advantages of using continuous processing over batch relate to safer conditions ,” says Jentzer . The group has identified five topics in this area : faster development ; safer development ; challenging reactions ; quality of the final product in terms of reproducibility ; and , the footprint and economy of the system , in terms of energy and solvent consumption . Minafin has used continuous processing technologies in a pharmaceutical project at its former AstraZeneca site in Dunkirk , northern France . The site already has an industrial flow static mixer , which has been used for sensitive mixing , avoiding the need for cryogenic conditions . It also carries out continuous liquidliquid extraction using a multi-stage centrifugal extractor at nearby Beuvryla-Forêt . Electrochemistry is seen as a versatile synthetic tool that can help
18 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981