Lonza – hazardous flow chemistry for streamlined large scale synthesis

Abstract

Lonza, a global leader in custom manufacturing, has been active for years in continuous fl ow operations using microreactor technologies, preferentially applied for hazardous reactions, and has core expertise in ozonolysis. Both key expertises have now been combined. Lonza is focused on the life sciences (bioresearch, pharma and biotech, nutrition, personal care, microbial control, agriculture and materials science). It has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland with a total of 45 facilities and more than 11,000 employees. The product and service offering ranges from worldwide exclusive active substances to organic chemicals and intermediates manufactured in biotechnological and chemical processes. These substances are made for the chemical, pharmaceutical, agrochemical and food industries. Lonza is also strong in production, chemical and biotechnological research and development is another strength of Lonza. This includes profound know-how in organic syntheses and biotechnological processes, project management and the technology transfer from research and development into industrial-scale production. The main activities in this area are design, implementation and optimization of costcompetitive, safe and environmentally friendly chemical and biotechnological manufacturing processes for new fi ne chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. One of Lonza’s core competencies is fi nding the optimal synthesis routes and processes for the industrial production of known compounds. As one of the recent innovative key technologies, Lonza re-designed chemical routes with the concept of fl ash chemistry in fl ow. Such highly intensifi ed fl ow processes most often need microreactors (Figures 1 and 2 ) because of their excellent heat transfer and mixing, exact control of residence time and segregation of feeds, together with small volume handling and robust design (pressure). Because of the high level of confi nement, the design is inherently safer. This paves the road to the intensifi ed mini-plant concept, for which the following drastic process intensifi cations were observed: lower reactor investment, less manpower, higher fl exibility, enhanced safety and faster change-over. This triggers the notion of new production concepts with the design of the “ factory of tomorrow ” . Currently, microreactors are restricted in use to the reaction part, to ensure high reaction yields and selectivity (Figure 3 ); in the future, this is foreseen as a fully integrated process including fl ow separations.