Plantwide Design and Economic Evaluation of Two Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (CPM) Cases: Ibuprofen and Artemisinin

Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (CPM) is a rapidly expanding research field with growing industrial importance: challenging the current batch production paradigm, it has a documented potential to deliver key cost, efficiency and environmental benefits. Ibuprofen, the potent painkiller, and artemisinin, a highly effective anti-malarial drug, have been identified as promising CPM candidates, and steady-state flowsheet models have been developed on the basis of published continuous organic synthesis pathways. Reactor design has been conducted using original kinetic parameter estimation results. A comparative economic analysis via published recoveries has computed performance indices which indicate that both CPM designs exhibit high economic potential, even if conservative profit and climate estimates are used to derive capital and operating costs. More detailed technoeconomic analyses can facilitate quicker CPM implementations.