PhosphonicS, a privately owned technology company specialising in functionalisation of solid materials, has improved turnaround time and batch-to-batch efficiency for scaling-up production of its range of functionalised silicas by using a specially adapted 20-litre ReactoMate reactor system supplied by Asynt of Isleham, Cambridgeshire.
Using proprietary immobilisation technology, Abingdon, UK-based PhosphonicS has developed a range of functionalised silicas for pharmaceutical purification and heterogeneous catalysis operations. The materials enable metal residue levels in drug substances (APIs) to be reduced to very low, regulated levels and precious metals to be effectively scavenged from spent catalysis reactions.
Michael Suggate, laboratory production manager at PhosphonicS said the firm’s scientists traditionally relied on 5-litre heating mantles to scale-up production of its functionalised silicas from tens of grams to initial kilo quantities. But this technology did not meet the initial scale-up speed that the firm wanted.
‘Implementing the Asynt ReactoMate system has given us the benefits of greater comparison to pilot scale chemistry, better heat and mass transfer and far greater control than heating mantles,’ he said.
‘The unique stand that the ReactoMate reactor sits on allows for complete access to the filter port and the adjustable height allows us to filter our solids with far greater control (under gravity) than by lifting and pouring from large round bottomed flasks.’
