Exothermic reactions at -60°C for continuous API manufacture

The continuous flow reactor, known as CryoFlowSkid, was presented at the CPhI Worldwide that took place last week in Frankfurt, Germany. 

Designed by engineering company De Dietrich and utilizing equipment developed by R&D services provider, Innosyn, the device is able to maintain very low temperatures, as low as -60°C, during continuous exothermic chemical reactions that are required for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

Edgar Steffin, head of Marketing for De Dietrich, explained to us that the machine is ‘very attractive’ for manufacturers looking to conduct fast exothermic reactions, whilst maintaining stability of the components across the different steps of the process.

The production system is available as a plug-and-produce technology, ready for installation at a manufacturing facility, enabling in-house continuous manufacture of chemical components, and is able to produce approximately three kilos per hour.

“The high interest from our clients for a device supporting such features is what led us to design CryoFlowSkid,” ​he told us.

The executive added that the company also received ‘very positive’ feedback whilst presenting the technology at CPhI, and has already accepted orders from several manufacturers interested to adopt the technology.

According to Steffin, the engineering company is also looking to scale the device at an even larger capacity, after a client expressed such a need. “We plan to install in the machine pumps that are up to 10 times more powerful, and that would allow us to increase the quantity of the end result, without necessary building a much larger device,”​ he told us.