Accelerated Development of Pharmaceutical Processes Through Digitally Coupled Reaction Screening and Process Optimisation
Artificially Intelligent Continuous Flow Platforms for Multistep Catalytic Manufacturing is an innovative research project that will accelerate the development of sustainable pharmaceutical and fine chemical manufacturing by combining continuous flow processing, advanced catalysis and artificial intelligence. While continuous manufacturing offers significant advantages over traditional batch production, integrating multiple catalytic reaction steps into a single process remains a major challenge due to catalyst incompatibilities and the complexity of process optimisation.
The project will develop a fully autonomous continuous flow platform capable of simultaneously optimising interconnected chemical and biocatalytic reactions. By combining advanced process analytics, automated reactor reconfiguration and machine learning, the platform will create intelligent feedback loops that enable real-time optimisation across entire multistep manufacturing sequences. The approach will be demonstrated using sustainable chemoenzymatic processes, bringing together the versatility of chemocatalysis with the precision of biocatalysis.
The project will:
- Develop AI-driven autonomous platforms for multistep continuous manufacturing
- Integrate and optimise chemical and biocatalytic reaction sequences within a single workflow
- Reduce waste, energy consumption and process development times
- Advance more sustainable and resilient pharmaceutical manufacturing
- Accelerate the adoption of autonomous, data-driven production technologies in industry
Project details
Project dates: June 2024 - June 2027
iPRD investigators: Adam Clayton; Richard Bourne
Other investigators: Alexei Lapkin (University of Cambridge); Anna Slater (University of Liverpool)
Funding value: £1,789,034
Funders: EPSRC