Multi-Disc Spinning Mesh Disc Reactor (MD-SMDR) for one-pot production of Active Pharmaceutical Intermediates

多盘旋转网状圆盘反应器(MD-SMDR)是SMDR的一个可伸缩和灵活的版本。SMDR由一个旋转的圆盘组成，催化剂布放在圆盘的顶部。由于与旋转圆盘相关的离心力，撞击在圆盘中心的液体进给形成具有高剪切力的薄膜。这导致在薄液膜内快速混合，并与催化剂更好地接触，从而更快地形成产品。目前的制造使用批量技术，相对于SMDR来说，这是缓慢和低效的，因为它涉及几个耗时和能源密集型的下游加工步骤，特别是对于制造高纯度产品。实验室规模的概念验证实例表明，与传统间歇反应器相比，SMDR的生产率和反应产率提高了100%，反应时间减少了5倍。通过增加多个圆盘，SMDR可以扩展到MD-SMDR，而不需要完全重新设计反应堆。MD-SMDR的设计允许在一锅中进行多催化剂反应，这可以减少间歇性产品分离和提纯的需要，从而降低整体运营成本。制药部门内垂直的活性药物成分(API)是MD-SMDR的直接目标市场，使内部生产救命药物所需的药物中间体成为可能。在这个项目中，我们正在为抗惊厥药物所需的关键原料药开发和优化MD-SMDR。在该项目结束时，制药公司将可以租赁/购买反应堆装置，以供市场准备好MD-SMDR版本，从而降低高资本投资的风险和高价值原料药的市场准备。目前的疫情加剧了可靠的药品供应链的重要性，需要灵活的操作来满足国家需求。MD-SMDR有潜力通过最低的资本和运营成本实现制药中间体生产的范式转变，并改善英国制药行业的全球市场。此外，MD-SMDR有潜力通过以资源节约的方式(低生产成本和减少化学废物)运营，实现制药行业的清洁增长，与英国的工业战略之一保持一致。

The multi-disc spinning mesh disc reactor (MD-SMDR) is a scalable and a flexible version of the SMDR. The SMDR consists of a rotating disc with a catalyst cloth resting on top of the disc. The liquid feed impinged at the centre of the disc forms a thin film with a high shear due to the centrifugal force associated with the spinning disc. This results in fast mixing within the thin liquid film and better contact with the catalyst, resulting in faster product formation. Current manufacturing uses batch technology, which is slow and inefficient relative to the SMDR, as it involves several time consuming and energy intensive downstream processing steps, especially for manufacturing high purity products. Proof of concept examples on a lab scale have shown that productivity and reaction yield was 100% higher in the SMDR with a 5-fold reduction to the reaction time compared to conventional batch reactors. The SMDR can be scaled-up to MD-SMDR through the addition of multiple discs, eliminating the need for complete reactor re-design. The design of MD-SMDR allows for multi-catalyst reactions in one-pot, which can reduce the need for intermittent product separation and purification, thus reducing the overall operations cost.The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) vertical within the pharmaceutical sector is the immediate target market for the MD-SMDR, enabling in-house production of pharmaceutical intermediates required for life saving drugs. In this project, we are carrying out the development and optimisation of the MD-SMDR for key APIs required for anticonvulsant drugs. At the end of this project, a market ready MD-SMDR version will be available for pharmaceutical companies to either lease/buy the reactor units, reducing the risk of high capital investment and market readiness of high value APIs.The current pandemic situation has heightened the importance of a reliable supply chain of pharmaceuticals and a need for flexible operation to meet the national demand. The MD-SMDR has potential to enable a paradigm shift in the production of pharmaceutical intermediates through minimum capital and operating cost and improve the global market for UK's pharmaceutical sector. Additionally, the MD-SMDR has potential to enable clean growth in pharmaceutical industries through operating in a resource efficient way (low production cost and reduced chemical waste), aligning with one of the UK's industrial strategies.