Embracing sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing using greener technology and processes that maximise production efficiency is one of the most critical ways the industry can innovate. New processes that reduce or eliminate hazardous products but increase profit margins are what manufacturers are looking for. In some cases this is being achieved through new catalytic or enzymatic reactions, or a move from batch to continuous production, more flexible plants, single-use equipment, and through greater automation.
Greener chemical processes are a starting point: developing new routes of chemical synthesis that eliminate waste, reduce process steps and cost. Companies such as Evocatal, for example, look for and develop novel enzymes that can work at higher temperatures, with higher activity and with greater resistance to organic solvents. Evocatal’s current focus is on chemical intermediates but others, such as Codexis, are focusing on the active ingredients.
Other companies focus on the mechanics of the production process through projects such as SYNFLOW.1 This large-scale EU research project, launched in 2010 at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, aims to enable the paradigm shift from batch-wise large volume processes comprising many separate unit operations to a more integrated but flexible catalytic continuous-flow process. The four-year EU-funded project, which involves 19 partners embracing industry (AstraZeneca, Bayer, Britest, CNRS, DECHEMA, Evonik Oxeno and Johnson Matthey) and 12 universities from the EU, combines molecular understanding of synthesis and catalysis with engineering science in process design and plant concepts.
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- Companies:
- Johnson Matthey
- Evonik
- Jacobs Engineering
- Codexis
- Pfizer
- AstraZeneca
- Foster Wheeler AG
- DECHEMA
- Bayer
- FANUC Robotics Europe
- evocatal GmbH
- Britest
- MarketsandMarkets
- Freeman Technology