Page 168 - CW E-Magazine (31-10-2023)

Special Report Special Report

cals industry, in several plants the pro- absorb such technologies, both in terms of  Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD), as Chemical space

cesses are quite old, follow conventional fabrication and supply of such reactors well as No Discharge Plants (NDP); The import dependence related
synthesis routs, use very large amounts in India and using them for various  Energy effi cient processes; uncertainty as well as outlook of the

of solvents (which are often recovered reactions at different scales. The Industry  Processes from renewable chemi- world at large towards the Indian chemi-

and recycled back as per the effi ciency Consortium on Microreactors with over cals (biomanufacturing); cal industry as a reliable and robust
of the recovery systems), which leads to 15 industry members at that time helped  Solvent-free processes; source of intermediates, has brought

signifi cant downstream processing and create some visibility for the techniques  Implementation of augmented plat- an altogether new opportunity. While

thus reduces the profi t margins signifi - and methods, which subsequently grew forms; and most of these are in the domains such
cantly. In many cases the plants produce signifi cantly through licensing of vari-  Have highly trained people for next as fl uorochemicals, organometallic com-
large quantities of waste (effl uent, VOCs ous processes, designs, etc., and through generation technologies. pounds, agrochemical intermediates,
and solids) and the operations are based fi ling of large number of patents. Sub- niche polymeric materials etc., there is a
on toxic materials that force one to have sequently, IIT-Bombay and CSIR-IICT Opportunities huge scope for getting into new mole-
huge inventories. These features often also created some early stage facilities. The fi eld of CFS has been evolving cules & materials that are low vol-
arise due to batch or semi-batch mode of in India over last decade and is expected ume and high value. Many of these use
operations as well. As of now, there are over 15 CROs to reach a peak in 8-10 years. However, advanced technologies and need confi ned
and start-ups that facilitate support in general, for our chemical industry Fig. 1: Opportunities in the space of continuous manufacturing production due to toxicity and handling
However, a few solutions that are of fl ow chemistry needs in the coun- to move signifi cantly into continuous piston pumps are very expensive escaping the atmosphere and give issues. Typical domains include electro-
now proven must be explored for every try (viz., Amar Equipments Pvt. Ltd., manufacturing space, it is absolutely import-dependent items (over few alarm if it is beyond the safe limit. nic chemicals, functional materials for
single possible and potential synthesis Sravathi Eng. Pvt. Ltd., TechnoForce essential to have all the necessary back- hundred pumps every year). These While a few Indian industries exist optical and displays, battery chemicals
implemented. Some of these include: Pvt. Ltd., MakSpeed Pvt. Ltd., Corning bone infrastructure, which itself opens cannot be avoided due to their abi- in this domain, the sensitivity of sen- and energy storage devices, strategic
 Revisit the chemistry (make it green, Ltd., Continuous Flow Asymchem Pvt. a huge opportunity for the peripheral lity to withstand pressure, precision sors and the sensors that have a wider chemicals, peptides and oligonucleotides,
use new synthesis techniques, use Ltd., Sreeni Lab, ChemDist Pvt. Ltd., industry. Broadly, the opportunities in dosing, durability and consistency ability for different compositions high value dyes, etc. CFS-based system
heterogeneous catalysts); Prayog Life Sciences, GMM Pfaudler the domain of CFS can be categorized: for long period operation and digi- need to be improved signifi cantly. will help move from lab to commercial
 Re-engineer the processes (make Ltd., etc.). Many of the large chemi- as (i) opportunities in physical space; tally controlled even for remote opera-  Online moisture detectors: In many scale much faster in these domains.
them continuous, maximize energy cal manufacturers have their own fl ow (ii) chemical production space; and (iii) tions from some distance away. At processes we need to monitor mois-
integration, try using integrated unit facilities (viz., Syngene Flow Lab, US augmented space. this moment, this space is almost ture forming in the reaction or mois- Challenges
operations, treat waste at the source Pharmacopia Centre for Continuous open and it is urgently needed for ture-free solvents; here also we have Transforming an ongoing process
of generation); Flow Synthesis, DRL’s Flow Synthesis Physical space developing made-in-India piston to depend on foreign manufacturers. into a new platform or starting a new

 Cross the barriers of scale, time, Laboratory, Aarti Industries, Deepak In the physical space, which means pumps. While a few industries exist  Filters and fi ltration media: We do method of manufacturing with limited
operating conditions; Nitrite, PI Industries, IPCA Labora- the physical infrastructure, opportuni- in the manufacturing and supply not have suffi cient manufactures to skill sets is quite challenging. Before we
 Eliminate or reduce the need of tories, CIPLA Ltd., Sun Pharma Ltd., ties are in (i) Process equipment (reac- of diaphragm pumps, gear pumps supply fi ltration media in the form of discuss the challenges, let’s look at some
downstream processing (select the Biocon Ltd., Aurobindo Ltd., Aether tors, static mixers, compact separation and syringe pumps, yet the import sheet and cartridges of the required reasons why these challenges exist.
reactors that are dictated by the Industries Ltd., Anupam Rasayan Ltd., devices, etc.); (ii) Back-bone infra- dependence only for the sake of pore size. Even the options for con-  Inadequate preparedness towards
reaction, reaction rates of the desired Godrej Ltd. etc.). As per our estimates, structure (viz., dosing systems, pumps, quality is little on higher side. tinuous fi ltration are limited. absorption of new technologies
and undesired reactions); over 250 Indian chemical industries MFCs, peripheral equipment, trans-  Flow control and measurement sys- because of signifi cant lag in the
 Develop sustainable new chemistry are practicing fl ow synthesis at various mitters for temperature, pressure, pH, tems: While developing continuous This is only a limited list that hasn’t technologies used in the past, lack of
(avoid using solvents, avoid using scales in India, and this number is ex- etc., utility systems, microwaves, BPR, system the main hurdle is again fl ow yet looked into the in-line fl ow meters, suffi cient information on effi cient
toxic chemicals, avoid generating pected to jump to 500 in next two years. etc.); (iii) modular plants/skids that control and measurement. For feed- sensors, non-contact measurement technologies and confi dence to
toxic waste). include novel compact designs, gene- ing specifi c volume of gas and some- systems and the plethora of process absorb it, wait and watch approach
While these numbers seem signifi - rating highly confi gurable skids. time saturated gases the need of mass analytical tools. for someone else to adapt it fi rst and
National status cant, and many large investments are fl ow controllers cannot be avoided. lethargy to adapt to changes, even if
Unlike other western countries, in due, it is necessary to aim for the fol- In general, there is a huge import These are of different types: thermal, Virtual space it is evident that there is no way out.
this area we have not been very late. lowing as the country marches into the dependence on the equipment and com- Coriolis, ultrasonic, magnetic, etc. Another major opportunity exists in  R&D in a large number of Indian

In middle of the 1st decade of this cen- era of continuous manufacturing. It is ponents used in fl ow chemistry space. We have to depend on foreign coun- the development and implementation chemical industries suffers from
tury, CSIR-National Chemical Labora- utmost necessary to: It is absolutely necessary to fi ll that tries for these type of equipment, of augmented platforms that can help poor investment, using R&D only
tory (CSIR-NCL) started exploring CFS  Have clean processes & clean plants gap and make all instruments that are and replacements can cause signifi - develop digital twins using AI & ML. for quality testing, not bringing new

for complex reactions. The purpose was (as the next generation of existing digitally communicable and compatible cant delays in operations. A few innovative industries and start- molecules/products (there are excel-
to showcase the usefulness of such tech- industries would prefer that way and with the latest technologies. A few speci-  Toxic gas detectors and sensors: ups are already in this domain; how- lent exceptions to this) and market-
nologies that were extremely expensive has more sense of sustainability); fi c requirements include: Working with toxic chemicals and ever, the opportunity space is huge in ing-dictated R&D, rather than R&D
at that time to the Indian chemical indus-  Smaller footprint;  Precision pumping systems: The gases we always need sensors that terms of hardware (sensors and control for creating new markets/products.
try and in parallel build capability to  Green synthesis; laboratory scale high pressure indicates threshold limit of the gas panels), as well as soft tools.  The skill gap is widening due to in-

168 Chemical Weekly October 31, 2023 Chemical Weekly October 31, 2023 169

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