Enlarging flow chemistry technology offer can better answer market requirements , says Laurent Pichon , president of MEPI
What ’ s next for flow ?
Enlarging flow chemistry technology offer can better answer market requirements , says Laurent Pichon , president of MEPI
Flow chemistry , which is now one of the best-known tools for industry to adopt the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry , first appeared on the market about 20 years ago . At the outset , most of the activity took place among academic entities and big pharmaceutical companies at laboratory scale .
Development at industrial scale has been relatively slow until recently . However , the recommendation by the FDA to adopt continuous processes , coupled with inline analysis to better manage and control the quality of API production , has helped to move things further .
Unexpected events like industrial disasters causing supply chain shortages , and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine , have prompted awareness of the need for countries to be more self-sufficient and catalysed the
Khimod cubic frame reactor MEPI will use for hydrogenations and Laminar cylinder reactor for S / L reactions and crystallisations .
reshoring of strategic industries like the chemical industry , especially in Europe . The resumption of paracetamol production in France is one example among many others .
Countries where double-digit inflation is raging are also considering local production to better control finances . As these projects often involve the construction of greenfield plants , it makes sense to consider implementing new and innovative technologies when building them .
Who is adopting ?
However , the adoption rate of flow chemistry varies a lot from one country to another . In some cases , it is the result of ‘ pull ’ by government initiatives , like France 2030 , subsidising decisions to invest in novel technologies in order to reduce the associated financial risk companies might take .
Meanwhile , China has established a rating of the 15 most dangerous chemical reactions and it is compulsory by law for the top five to be run in a flow system in the first instance . For this reason among others , China has by far the highest number of industrial scale flow setups , well ahead of the rest of the world .
The dissemination of flow technologies is also related to the potential application markets . Indeed , the first available industrial tools had flow rates capacities around 10 L / h , limiting a high return on investment to high added-value segments .
After the initial numberingup strategies were replaced by economically more attractive ‘ light and seamless ’ scale-up ( up to 100 times ) options , flow was able to enter the speciality chemicals arena . The first commercial successes were in large nitrations or ethoxylations .
48 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981