(Lecture, Apr 7) Application of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) Tools for the Better Understanding and Control of Crystallisation Processes
time: 2017-04-07


Title: Application of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) Tools for the Better Understanding and Control of Crystallisation Processes
Speaker: Dr Elena Simone (School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds)
Time: 10:00a.m., April 7th, 2017
Venue: Room 105, Shaw Engineering Building, Wushan Campus

Abstract:
Crystallisation is an important unit operation used as separation and purification technique. It is widely employed in the pharmaceutical, chemical, agrochemical, food and cosmetics industries but also in the electronic, metallurgic and material industries.
More than 90% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) on the market are produced by crystallisation and crystal size, shape and lattice structure (polymorphism) have a profound effect on the properties of the final drug as well as on the efficiency of the downstream operations (filtration, washing, drying, tableting etc.). Therefore, monitoring and control this process is fundamental to ensure the quality of the end product. The implementation of process analytical technology (PAT) tools during the development stage of APIs has largely helped in better understanding and optimizing both batch and, more recently, continuous crystallisation. Specific instrumentation can be used to monitor on-line, in situ, crystal size and shape (focused beam reflectance measurement, FBRM, particle vision and measurement, PVM, ultrasound), polymorphism (Raman, FTIR and NIR spectroscopy) and liquid phase composition (Attenuated total reflectance UV/VIS and FTIR, on-line HPLC). Furthermore, feedback control strategies based on PAT tools signal can be implemented in order to specifically tailor the characteristics of the produced crystals and gain higher product quality and process efficiency. This work shows few examples of application of PAT tools for the study and control of crystallization processes.
About Dr Elena Simone
Current employment:
Lecturer in Remote Sensing at the University of Leeds, School of Food Science and Nutrition, Leeds, UK.
Research on crystallization monitoring and control, teaching and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Research Interests:
- Understanding the phenomena of polymorphism, nucleation and crystal growth of pharmaceuticals and food crystals (e.g. fats, sugars) using on-line, in situ, analytical techniques as well as off-line solid state characterisation;
- Developing strategies to effectively control crystal size, shape and polymorphism during crystallisation processes, combining experimental and modelling work.
Other activities:
Member of the management board of the EPSRC CP3 doctoral training centre (from January 2017). Internal reviewer of PhD proposals for the EPSRC SOFI doctoral training centre (October 2016). Member of the technical committee for the ESCAPE-27 and ICNFS 2017 conferences.
Awards:
• Best poster prize within the Materials and Particle Technology category at the ChemEngDay 2013 (London, UK).
• Best poster award at the BIWIC 2013 held in Odense, Denmark.
• Best poster prize at the EuroPACT 2014 conference held in Barcelona, Spain.
• Best poster award at the International school of crystallization 2014 held in Granada, Spain.
• Acceptance for participation to the Summer school of Crystallography 2015, to be held in Erice (Italy).
• Engineering YES 2015 best teamwork prize, May 2015, Birmingham UK.
• Association of British Turkish Academics Doctoral Awards 2016, honourable mention, June 2016, London, UK.
• Selection for the Leeds Crucible 2016/17, Leeds, UK
Professional memberships:
Associate member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and IChemE. Member of the British Association for Crystal Growth (BACG).