A Case Study: Challenging Nanomaterial Synthesis and Scale-up

An entrepreneurial company with close university ties developed a unique nanomaterial with potential applications in the medical market segment.

The company successfully produced gram quantities in their laboratory and, upon demonstrating the technology at this scale, pursued an aggressive market development program. Soon after, they received inquiries for quantities far exceeding their laboratory capacity. Their search began for an outsourcing facility with the necessary equipment to take this technology from the bench scale to pilot production. The synthesis presented challenging scale-up issues (stringent temperature control requirements, agitation concerns, toxic byproducts, and complicated isolation techniques) and the customer had a particularly disappointing experience with the first outsourcing partner chosen for the work.

Pressure Chemical Company was then recommended to the customer by a third party because of our specific expertise in process development and experience with nanoscale materials. Following the initial technology exchange, we developed an experimental plan for work in Pressure’s kilo lab with the goal of defining all the important parameters for successful scale-up of the process. During the process R&D phase, the customer was on-site, working in close collaboration with Pressure researchers. The result was identification of a robust, scaleable plan for pilot production.

A short time later, we piloted the process at the 100-gallon scale. We successfully addressed the temperature control requirements with a newly constructed skid-mounted hot/cool oil unit designed specifically for control of processes in pilot-scale glass lined equipment. The agitation parameters identified during the labwork were successfully engineered at pilot scale. A method was developed to manage the toxic byproduct safely and efficiently. And, isolation of the product was achieved to the satisfaction of the customer.

Pressure was able to respond quickly to the customer’s need for process R&D, scale-up, and pilot production of an innovative new nanomaterial, accomplishing delivery of in-spec product within 3 months of the customer’s initial inquiry. This has allowed expanded development and testing of the technology and the customer is currently seeking funding to bring this technology back to Pressure for a production run at the 500-gallon scale.