Economic Boost through Continuous Manufacturing and Process Intensification

Technical experience gained over many years has identified the two most important factors to reduce the cost per kg of product: Firstly, having an intensified process and, secondly, having multi-use engineering designs. Therefore, Microinnova focuses on these two areas to deliver value. Debottlenecking projects have demonstrated that continuous manufacturing could be effectively used to double capacity. Whilst another project identified that even going solvent-free was a viable cost saving option. Liquid-gas reactions like oxidations (conventional or enzymatic) or hydrogenations can be intensified by a factor of 100 in batch-to-conti projects. Even formulation equipment for making injectables, pastes and creams could be reduced by a factor of 100. A technical director of a formulation company commented: “If we do not switch to continuous in the next 10 years, we will be dead”. Safety relevant applications like polymerizations, handling of hazardous chemistry or exothermic processes benefit enormously from continuous manufacturing by reducing reactor sizes. A propoxylation case study has verified, that exothermic reactions can be carried out in minutes instead of hours (intensification factor of 700). New chemistry like flash chemistry will enable transformations with short life-time reagents. Reagent generators will continuously synthesize toxic or unstable reagents in situ. Smart manufacturing will be the key to shortening time-to-market.