Fine chemicals differences

Process development for fine chemicals differs from that for commodities, mainly because ... 

Reactions for the synthesis of fine chemicals differ in many aspects from the hydrocarbon reactions that constitute today the major application of zeolites and other micro- or mesoporous catalysts, as they often involve the transformation of molecules with several functional groups. Chemoselectivity is therefore of prime importance. These reactions are generally operated in rather mild conditions and condensed media (rather than vapour phase) to avoid undesired secondary reactions. The use of solvents can have major impacts on the activity and selectivity of these catalysts as they may affect the adsorption and desorption of reactants and products on these catalysts. 

On a smaller scale m-xylene is oxidized to isophthalic acid. In the field of fine chemicals, different toluene derivatives and other alkyl-substituted aromatic systems are oxidized to a variety of substituted aromatic acids, which constitute important feedstocks to polymers, plastics, fibers, foils, or intermediates for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. 

Research and development in the field of fine chemicals differs considerably from bulk chemicals. Requirements for industrial success of a new process are different from bulk chemicals where the most important feature is cost performances. Although this feature is of course important for development of fine chemicals, two other main parameters should be considered. First of all, time to market One must be ready to manufacture the product at the right time and for a limited period of time. The lifetime of most fine chemicals is much shorter than for bulk chemicals where 20 to 50 years is standard. Second, possible R D expenses are much lower than for bulk chemicals (Figure 1). 

The demands made on process development for fine chemicals differ considerably from those of basic products and intermediates (Figures 1-5 and 1-6). In addition to the... 

Finaplix Finaprene Finasteride [98319-26-7] Finazoline Fine arts Fine chemicals Fine-coarse difference Fine-grain sugar... 

The workforce consists of 92 shift and 8 daily workers. Approximately 20 to 30 different fine chemicals are produced per year which range ia volume from 20 to 200 metric tons per train and ia campaign length from 20 to 180 days. 

Quality Control. Because fine chemicals are sold according to specifications, adherence to constant and strict specifications, at risk because of the batchwise production and the use of the same equipment for different products ia multipurpose plants, is a necessity for fine chemical companies. For the majority of the fine chemicals, the degree of attention devoted to quahty control (qv) is not at the discretion of the iadividual company. This is particularly the case for fine chemicals used as active iagredients ia dmgs and foodstuffs (see Fine chemicals, standards). Standards for dmgs are pubHshed ia the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) ia the United States (6) and the European Pharmacopeia ia Europe (7). 

Cost Calculation. The main elements determining production cost are identical for fine chemicals and commodities (see Economic evaluation), a breakdown of production cost is given in Table 2. In multipurpose plants, where different fine chemicals occupying the equipment to different extents are produced during the year, a fair allocation of costs is a more difficult task. The allocation of the product-related costs, such as raw material and utiHties, is relatively easy. It is much more difficult to allocate for capital cost, labor, and maintenance. A simplistic approach is to define a daily rent by dividing the total yearly fixed cost of the plant by the number of production days. But that approach penalizes the simple products using only part of the equipment. 

Fine chemicals are produced by a wide spectmm of manufacturers, largely because the distinction between different kinds of chemicals is not sharp. There are specialty producers of fine chemicals. Many companies that manufacture dmgs also manufacture the chemical substances that are used in preparing the dosage forms. A number of companies manufacture dmg chemicals and food chemicals. Some fine chemicals are made by manufacturers of heavy chemicals, and either may be simply a segment of their regular production, or some of that production which has been subjected to additional purification steps. Many fine chemicals are imported into the United States from countries such as Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands. 

Oxidation reactions are frequently used in the production of both bulk and fine chemicals. Review the main differences in the processes usually used in each sector, discussing these differences in terms of the 12 principles of green chemistry. 

Here we shall consider a different concept, which has an interesting potential, particularly in liquid phase reactions used for the production of fine chemicals. The concept is schematically illustrated in Fig. 3. The modification of the metal catalysts is achieved by very small quantities (usually a sub-monolayer) of adsorbed auxiliaries (modifiers), which are either simply added to the reaction mixture (in-situ), or brought onto the catalyst surface in a... 

Many companies spiecialize in the production of chemicals grouped in chemical trees characterized by the same chemical roots (compounds) or the same/similar method of manufacturing. Examples are the Lonza trees based upon (I) hydrogen cyanide, (2) ketene (H2C=C=0) and diketene (4-methyleneoxetan-2-one), and (3) nitrogen heterocycles. A different t3q)e of tree is that of DSM Chemie Linz, which branches out from ozonolysis as the core technology (Stinson, 1996). Wacker Chemie has developed its chemical tree leading to acetoacetates, other acylacetates, and 2-ketones (Stinson, 1997). Table 1.1 shows examples of fine chemicals. 

Processes in fine chemicals manufacture differ from processes for the manufacture of commodity chemicals in many respects (see also Chapter 2). 

From the foregoing it will be clear that in fine chemicals process development the strategy differs profoundly from that in the bulk chemical industry. The major steps are (i) adaptation of procedures to constraints imposed by the existing facilities with some necessary equipment additions, or (ii) choice of appropriate equipment and determination of procedures for a newly built plant, in such a way that procedures in both cases guarantee the profitable, competitive, and safe operation of a plant. 

Modelling can at least facilitate the determination of the most effective scale-up program. Information from three fields is needed for modelling (1) chemical kinetics, (2) mass transfer, and (3) heat transfer. The importance of information for different processes has been qualitatively evaluated (see Table 5.3-5). Obviously, sufficiently accurate information on heat transfer is needed for batch reactors, which are of great interest for fine chemicals manufacture. Kinetic studies and modelling requires much time and effort. Therefore, the kinetics often is not known. Presently, this approach is winning in the scale-up of processes for bulk chemicals. The tools developed for scale-up of processes for bulk chemicals have been proven to be very useful. Therefore, the basics of this approach will be discussed in more detail in subsequent sections. 

Quality control tests or improvement of existing processes. Raw materials from various sources can be used in the manufacture of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The raw materials can contain different impurities at various concentrations. Therefore, before the raw material is purchased and used in a full-scale batch its quality should be tested in a small-scale reactor. Existing full-scale procedures are subject to continuous modifications for troubleshooting and for improving process performance. Laboratory reactors used for tests of these two kinds are usually down-scaled reactors or reactors being a part of the full scale-reactor. 

Industrial applications of zeolites cover a broad range of technological processes from oil upgrading, via petrochemical transformations up to synthesis of fine chemicals [1,2]. These processes clearly benefit from zeolite well-defined microporous structures providing a possibility of reaction control via shape selectivity [3,4] and acidity [5]. Catalytic reactions, namely transformations of aromatic hydrocarbons via alkylation, isomerization, disproportionation and transalkylation [2], are not only of industrial importance but can also be used to assess the structural features of zeolites [6] especially when combined with the investigation of their acidic properties [7]. A high diversity of zeolitic structures provides us with the opportunity to correlate the acidity, activity and selectivity of different structural types of zeolites. 

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