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Many simple synthetic organic chemicals that are produced in large volumes are manufactured using highly efficient continuous or semicontinuous flow processes. However, continuous processing is still very limited when synthesizing new molecules for drugs, biocides, herbicides, pesticides, inks, chemical additives, and many other specialty chemical applications.
Sergio Pissavini and Gary S. Calabrese, from Corning, note that this is beginning to change. In the April AIChE Journal Perspective, "From Batch to Continuous Flow Processing in Chemicals Manufacturing," they explain that academic labs are publishing continuous routes for synthesizing drugs like Ibuprofen, and major corporations have announced processes for the manufacture of drugs and drug intermediates by continuous processing. Safety, product and process quality, environmental impact, ease of scale-up, and throughput control are also important factors and introduce constraints that may render some processes technically infeasible. A full economic analysis is needed to determine whether the product's profit margins allow acceptable return on the required capital investment.
It is commonly accepted that 20%-30% of commercially important homogeneous nonpolymer reactions can be run more efficiently in continuous flow reactors. In addition, while much of the focus on continuous reactors...