Highly efficient separation method for the pharmaceutical production

The new EU research project CAEC (Continuous Annular Electro-Chromatography) deals with the further development of the analytical capillary electro-chromatography (CEC) towards an application in small-scale production of extremely high-value added products in chemical, biochemical and pharmaceutical industries (e.g. APIs). CEC represents a powerful analytical method for the separation of both neutral and charged molecules. Major challenge within the project will be the increase of separation throughput by a factor of 20,000 while maintaining a separation efficiency of more than 100,000 theoretical stages per meter which is influenced by manufacturing precision, uniform distribution and diffusion, heat exchange efficiency, etc. Initiated by Prof. Bart from the Technical University Kaiserslautern, the project consortium now besides IMM consists of 4 academic (TU Kaiserslautern, TU Dortmund, TU Eindhoven, TU Graz) and 3 industrial partners (Novartis, Galilaeus Oy, Microinnova). IMM contributes by its specialised (chemical) engineering skills, high-precision manufacturing techniques, and sensor knowhow to build a prototype which also includes an optical on-line sensor to monitor and control the separation.

More information: www.caec-eu.de.

Contact: Dr. Bernd Werner, Product Manager Chemical Process Technology, Mixing and Fine Chemistry Department,
Phone: +49 6131/990 392