Abstract

Water Science and Engineering with Microchemical Systems for Applications in Fine Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Manufacture

Ryan Hartman, Assistant Professor, The University Of Alabama

Reactor design principles have traditionally been applied to innovate chemical processes on macroscopic scales where the production of considerable quantities of chemicals and materials are economical (e.g., commodities and petrochemicals). When markets exist for smaller quantities, as examples fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals, the opportunity arises to rethink traditional strategies. The efficient, continuous-flow manufacturing of specialty chemicals depends on accurate scale-up predictions from the laboratory to intermediary and full production. Process intensifications that reduce energy consumptions require the discovery of intrinsic kinetics and novel synthetic methodologies. The laboratory scale is an area of tremendous growth opportunity that engineering innovations will surely catalyze. Micro-structured reactors are powerful laboratory-scale tools that eliminate time-dependent physical and chemical resistances encountered in synthesis. Many organic synthetic pathways, however,consume or generate crystalline solids, and thus solids handling principles in micro- to meso-scale flow are critically important. Chemical reactions that use water as a solvent, especially in fine chemicals and pharmaceutical processing, are attractive because its high solubility of inorganic salts has the potential to enable continuous processing. Similarly, recent advances in powerful synthetic methodologies discovered in the laboratory foster the need for new innovations in the area of continuous separations. These concepts are related to challenges currently facing the petroleum and natural gas industry; societal problems interrelated to water production and purification.