Catalytic Materials Supporting Novel UK Based Continuous Redox Reactions for the Pharmaceutical and Fine Chemical Industry

化学制造业历来是英国工业的强项。“现代药物的制造是我们领先的制造业之一，价值超过200亿英镑，”生命科学部长乔治弗里曼说。政府认识到，英国的全球地位只能通过创新和先进制造业来维持。社会和政治需要尽可能快和便宜地将药品推向市场，这一需要必须至少部分地由制造部门来满足。制造业的一场革命是从传统的批量模式转向连续工艺，其好处包括：减少资本;减少制造前置时间;减少营运资本;减少足迹;减少溶剂使用;减少用水;减少碳足迹;减少开发时间。加氢反应是化工生产中的一个重要过程，据估计，10%的生产反应是催化加氢反应。在批量反应器中以制造规模进行的氢化受到大量有害材料的限制。连续加氢有望节省大量时间和金钱，具有更好的性能和显著的安全优势，但仍是一个未得到满足的需求。通过将两个理想的英国合作伙伴聚集在一起，该项目旨在解决这个问题。IntensiChem是一家位于肯特探索公园的中小企业，在开发大规模连续流动加氢技术方面取得了重大进展。约翰逊万丰是催化剂市场的全球参与者，是间歇式催化剂的代名词。这家总部位于剑桥的集团已经开始与IntensiChem合作，共同应对专门为流动反应器设计新催化剂的挑战。两家公司都认为这是释放该技术全部潜力的关键。新一代催化剂的生产和制造工艺的优化将改变连续流加氢市场，并使两家英国公司成为该领域的关键参与者。

Chemical manufacturing has historically been a strength of UK industry. "The manufacture of modern medicines is one of our leading manufacturing sectors worth over £20bn," George Freeman, Minister for Life Sciences. It is recognised by government that UK's global position will only be sustained by innovation and advanced manufacturing. The societal and political need for medicines to be brought to market as fast and cheaply as possible must be met, at least in part, by the manufacturing sector. A revolution in manufacturing is seeing a move from traditional batch modalities to continuous processes, the benefits of which include: capital reduction; manufacturing lead time reduction; working capital reduction; footprint reduction; reduction in solvent use; reduction in water use; carbon footprint reduction; and reduction in development time. Hydrogenation is an important process in chemical manufacturing; it has been proposed that 10% of manufacturing reactions are catalytic hydrogenations. Hydrogenation in batch reactors on a manufacturing scale is limited by large volumes of hazardous materials. With the promise of considerable savings of time and money, better performance and significant safety advantages, continuous hydrogenation is a substantial unmet need. By bringing together two ideally suited UK-based partners, this project aims to solve the problem. IntensiChem -- an SME based on Discovery Park Kent -- has made substantial advances in developing large-scale continuous flow hydrogenation technology. Johnson Matthey is a global player in the catalyst market, and is synonymous with batch catalyst. The Cambridge-based group has already begun to collaborate with IntensiChem on the challenge of designing new catalysts specifically for flow reactors. Both companies see this as key to unlocking the full potential of the technology. The production of a new generation of catalysts and the optimisation of manufacturing process will transform the market for continuous flow hydrogenation, and make the two UK companies key players in the field.