Process Development and Scale-Up
Lecture 7 - Route Selection and the Select Criteria
Bulk vs Fine Chemical?
• A fine chemical has more than one functional group
• A number of different stereoisomers or enantiomers
• Found in the Pharmaceutical industry
• Small scale but high value products
• Often produced in relatively small scale, non catalytic batch systems
Environmental impact:
,Process Development - aims to make the chemical process:
• Safer - (personal level, environmental impact and global climate change level)
• Faster - than the current process and those of competitors
• Cheaper - than the current process and those of competitors
• Better - purer product to comply with regulatory requirements (e.g. FDA)
Process Scale-Up - involves development of a process to take the chemical reaction in the lab to a
large, plant scale in a safe, economic and sustainable way
Both process development and process scale-up can be considered as process design and they
apply to all stages of the manufacture of the commercial chemical - synthesis, packaging, shelf-life
etc.
Process chemists need to think about more than just the reaction - multi-disciplinary process
Multi-disciplinary teams
Process Chemistry
Reactions are at the heart of many chemical processes
Many individual units within a process do not involve reactions:
• Purification of reagents before the reaction
• Concentration of dilute stream from a previous step
• Mixing of phases in reactor (some reactions e.g. heterogeneous catalysed,
involve two or more phases)
• Separation of catalyst and isolation of pure product after reaction
Product isolation and work-up
Lab scale experiments generally:
• Use purified raw materials
• Isolate and purify intermediates in complex multistage reactions
Industrial scale reactions generally:
• Use industrial grade raw materials
, • Minimise the number of isolation stages required by using crude intermediates for complex
reactions
• However, final product stream must be of required purity
Example hydration of ethene to ethanol
Industrial Process
Process Complexity
Lecture 7 - Route Selection and the Select Criteria
Bulk vs Fine Chemical?
• A fine chemical has more than one functional group
• A number of different stereoisomers or enantiomers
• Found in the Pharmaceutical industry
• Small scale but high value products
• Often produced in relatively small scale, non catalytic batch systems
Environmental impact:
,Process Development - aims to make the chemical process:
• Safer - (personal level, environmental impact and global climate change level)
• Faster - than the current process and those of competitors
• Cheaper - than the current process and those of competitors
• Better - purer product to comply with regulatory requirements (e.g. FDA)
Process Scale-Up - involves development of a process to take the chemical reaction in the lab to a
large, plant scale in a safe, economic and sustainable way
Both process development and process scale-up can be considered as process design and they
apply to all stages of the manufacture of the commercial chemical - synthesis, packaging, shelf-life
etc.
Process chemists need to think about more than just the reaction - multi-disciplinary process
Multi-disciplinary teams
Process Chemistry
Reactions are at the heart of many chemical processes
Many individual units within a process do not involve reactions:
• Purification of reagents before the reaction
• Concentration of dilute stream from a previous step
• Mixing of phases in reactor (some reactions e.g. heterogeneous catalysed,
involve two or more phases)
• Separation of catalyst and isolation of pure product after reaction
Product isolation and work-up
Lab scale experiments generally:
• Use purified raw materials
• Isolate and purify intermediates in complex multistage reactions
Industrial scale reactions generally:
• Use industrial grade raw materials
, • Minimise the number of isolation stages required by using crude intermediates for complex
reactions
• However, final product stream must be of required purity
Example hydration of ethene to ethanol
Industrial Process
Process Complexity
