Prosonix Ltd
www.prosonix.co.uk
Ultrasonic Particle Engineering
John Burns
PIN Meeting November 21st 2007
1 Property of Prosonix Ltd © 2007
Prosonix Ltd
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World leaders in the use of ultrasound in commercial scale process chemistry
Global customer base in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, minerals, energy
Based in Oxford UK the Prosonix Team consists of
- PhD Chemists, Chemical and Mechanical Engineers, Experienced BD professionals
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Technology platform includes
- Award Winning CrystalGEMTM predictive crystallization
- ProsonitronTM reactors for sonocrystallization, sonoprocessing, & sonochemistry
- SAXTM Particle Engineering Technology for advanced pharmaceuticals
Key technology partnerships with world renowned experts
- Dr John Perkins and Sonic Systems
- Dr George Tranter and Chiralabs
- Dr Rob Price and University of Bath
- Professor Tim Mason, University of Coventry
- Professor Kevin Roberts, University of Leeds
- Scientific Update, Royal Society of Chemistry, National Physics Laboratory
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Key license deals with UCB Pharma, Aughinish (Glencore), Alcoa World Alumina
2 Property of Prosonix Ltd © 2007
Business Overview
Current Core Business
CrystalGEM™
Award Winning
Predictive
Crystallization
Fee for Service
3 Property of Prosonix Ltd © 2007
Prosonitron™
SonoLabTM
Collaborative R&D Services
Licensing of process technology
Equipment Supply
Product Supply via Partner
Developing Business
SAX™
Collaborative research and
development agreements &
Licensing of technology
Product Supply
What is Sonoprocessing?
Cavitation caused by successive compression and rarefaction (just a few
Ultrasound causes a pressure wave in solution
acoustic cycles)
Cavitation caused by successive compression and rarefaction
Regions of extreme excitation, temperature (5000K) and pressure
(2000
atm) to create surface and energy for nuclei to form
1.5
1.5
1
1
Compression and Rarefaction
0.5
0.5
0
0
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
-0.5
-0.5
-1
-1
-1.5
Successive Growth Cycles
Bubble Collapse
-1.5
Ultrasonic Mediated Cavitation Facilitates
- Nucleation and Crystallization Control
- Intense Mixing
- Solid/Liquid interactions
- Liquid/Liquid Interactions
- Process Intensification
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Historic Engineering Limitations
Cavitational erosion has previously prohibited commercial use
Liquid jets penetrate bubbles
Liquid jet penetrates bubble
during asymmetric collapse
Damage to a solid caused by jet
impact and emission of shock
waves as a result of repetitive
bubble implosions
Bubble collapse
Bubble implosion
Liquid in-flow
Probe tip
Jet
impact
• Probes have not been used for
commercial scale production
• Prosonix has overcome these
engineering limitations
30 hrs of non-continuous use
5 Property of Prosonix Ltd © 2007
Cavitation Control
ProsonitronTM design focuses power towards the central flow
• Ultrasound generated at the
transducers passes through the
metal masses to enter the liquid at
the tube walls.
Transducers
• The sound waves propagate and
focus power at the centre of the flow
adjacent to the bonded front mass.
Sound Waves
Cavitation
Cavitation Mapping
Using NPL probe
6 Property of Prosonix Ltd © 2007
Prosonix ProsonitronTM Success Stories
3 major customer license deals secured
Particle Size Distribution
Volume (%)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0.01
150.01
350.01
550.01
c3-005-083, 06 October 2004 16:20:55
c3-005-112, 12 October 2004 10:07:59
750.01
950.01 1100
1250
1400
1550
Particle Size (µm)
c3-005-102B, 08 October 2004 14:55:41
c3-009-113, 15 October 2004 14:48:03
UCB Pharma (Major Pharma)
• First demonstration of ProsonitronTM at pharma pilot scale
• License Agreement and broad collaboration deal
• Sonocrystallization control of shape, size and polymorph
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Aughinish Alumina (Glencore)
• Worlds first continuous large scale Sonocrystallizer
• 2 years continuous operation in aggressive conditions
• Aids key impurity removal, increasing plant efficiency and capacity
Alcoa World Alumina (# 1 in Global Alumina)
• Second continuous Sonocrystallizer to worlds biggest alumina player
• Analogous application to AAL, potential at 8 other Alcoa refineries
7 Property of Prosonix Ltd © 2007
Prosonix Ltd
Experts in Sound Science
For more information on the whole range of Prosonix
products and services please visit
www.prosonix.co.uk
8 Property of Prosonix Ltd © 2007