2022 Design and Research Conference

Synthesis and Design of Albuterol Processes

Team Members: Caroline Canatella, Dann Lat, Erin Robicheaux

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

Albuterol is a commonly used drug to treat or prevent bronchospasms in patients with asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and other lung diseases. As Covid-19 continues to plague the world, the global demand for albuterol has been increasing. Albuterol has also been listed as a critical acute drug and as a critical Covid-19 drug by CIDRAP (Centers for Infectious Disease Research and Policy). It is also listed in the Drug Shortage list by ASPH (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists).

Louisiana Tech Chemical Engineering students were asked to design a process that produced 5,000 kilograms of albuterol from commodity chemicals. The process was designed using Excel and ChemCAD. The research was done to find kinetics and thermodynamics. Topological and parametric optimizations were done to improve the overall process. Recycle streams were highly encouraged to significantly decrease the cost of raw materials. Process hazards, the material of constructions, and any suggestions that will mitigate hazards will be presented.

Economic Outlook and Hazard Analysis for Synthesizing Albuterol

Team Name: MediCajun

Team Members: Riley Killian, Alexander Neil, Reagan Rispone

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the forefront supply chain concerns for many medical drugs people rely on each day. Drug shortages leave hospitals and beneficiaries struggling to obtain the medicine they need. If these essential drugs are available, they are likely hard to afford. In an effort to ease these concerns, we designed a process that produced 5,000 kilograms per year of albuterol. The batch reactor synthesis of albuterol was modeled with multiple patents and pathways to identify the most appropriate option. Methods for separating and filtering materials were researched based on the states of the reactants and products being utilized. The separations were modeled using ChemCAD process simulation and all required equipment was costed with equations developed by Turton, Schaeiwitz, Bhattacharyya, and Whiting (2018). Due to the expensive price of certain process materials, they are being recovered to gain profitability. Topological and parametric optimizations were considered. The process hazards will be identified as well as the contributing global, cultural, and societal factors.

Economic Optimization and Hazard Analysis of Albuterol Production

Team Name: ArkLaTex

Team Members: Julia Bates, Justin Griffin, Abigail Phillips

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

Louisiana Tech Chemical Engineering students were asked to design a process that produced 5,000 kilograms per year of albuterol from commodity chemicals. Albuterol, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in many inhalers, has been in demand since the Covid-19 pandemic began and was considered necessary to supply the U.S. market in the case of supply-chain shortages.

The batch system was modeled using the process simulator ChemCAD and priced using cost equations from Turton, Shaeiwitz, Bhattacharyya, and Whiting (2018). Topological and parametric optimizations were explored along with different chemical routes to the product. The complexity of the project was increased significantly by the addition of solvent recycling processes. The impact of separator recycle purity on the economics will be presented. Process hazards will be identified and suggestions to mitigate hazards will be presented.

Economic Design and Safety Analysis of Batch Production of Albuterol

Team Name: ACE Chemicals

Team Members: Elizabeth Amedee, Victoria Carroll, Joshua Ekechukwu

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

Louisiana Tech Chemical Engineering students were asked to design a batch system to produce 5,000 kilograms of albuterol based on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services market data, which discussed the increasing demand for albuterol in the U.S market. Making pharmaceuticals through a batch process reduces health risks for the general public. Albuterol is “used to prevent and treat wheezing, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, and coughing caused by lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease” (MedlinePlus.gov).

A six-step pathway was developed based on researching and analyzing different reaction steps from various patents and binary thermodynamic articles. For each step, methods were determined for catalyst and solvent recovery. Portions of the process were modeled in ChemCAD from reviewed experimental data from binary-phase thermodynamic journals. The accuracy of the separation simulation and waste reduction is pivotal to economic design. Bench experimental data obtained from literature such as time, temperature, chemical cost, molecular solubility, and electrolytic properties were collected to compare processes and ensure efficient industrial use. As industrial processes continue to pollute the earth, the need for albuterol is expected to grow as asthma and other respiratory problems in the U.S. worsen.

Production of Albuterol: Process and Optimizations

Team Name: Hoolder-McElveen

Team Members: Brandon Holder, Christopher McElveen

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

This is a project on the production of 5,000 kilograms of albuterol yearly. We looked at different chemistries for the production of our compound and found an optimal route with certain reaction conditions. The production was optimized using different reactor sizes, temperatures, scheduling, and more. The overall goal of this project was to create an optimal system that saved the most money possible.

Batch Process Design and Optimization for the Production of Albuterol

Team Name: SLE–Solid-Liquid Equilibrium

Team Members: Stephen Koruna, Lauren Mekalip, Ethan Troth

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

Albuterol is a bronchodilator used to treat acute asthma. The drug is listed on the World Health Order essential medicine list and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration essential medicines list. Albuterol synthesis is achieved through three industrially-relevant pathways. This project analyzed the three chemical pathways using a base case of one reactor to produce an amount equal to 10 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredient’s annual market share. Equipment and labor costs were scaled to the amount of time required to complete the campaign. Each chemical pathway was analyzed based on raw material cost, chemical safety, waste produced, and the ability to recover solvents. The chosen chemical pathway was then optimized based on the scheduling of each step and its respective parts: loading time, reaction time, drain time, and filter time.

Economic Optimization and Design of Albuterol Production Facility

Team Name: LNN Design Group

Team Members: Zachary Lites, Tyler Nettleton, Ross Nunez

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

The U.S. pharmaceutical industry has been on the decline due to outsourcing for cheap labor. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has shown this to be a threat to national security due to supply lines with countries providing the labor becoming strained from the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing the current FDA drug shortage list, multiple evaluated candidates showed growth in federal purchasing as well as having active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing locations in foreign countries. The best candidate from this analysis was albuterol, a bronchial dilator commonly used in the treatment of asthma.

Our group was tasked to design a process that would make the current U.S. yearly drug usage for Medicare and Medicaid. This process is designed to make 5,000 kilograms of albuterol after justifying literature data from manufacturing patents and research articles. The main complications that came with this project were from the batch manufacturing process. Process hazards have been identified and suggestions to mitigate hazards will be presented.

Synthesis and Economic Optimization of Salbutamol Production

Team Name: Bulldog Pharmaceutical Solutions

Team Members: Nathaniel Jozefik, Thomas Love, De’Asia Smith

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

A batch process for the synthesis of salbutamol was modeled using the literature found during the research on five individual reactions that made up the entire process. Analyzing a batch process increased the complexity of the model significantly as the calculations deviated from the more commonly known calculations for a continuous process. Multiple variations of each reaction were examined based on a cost analysis. The system was modeled by performing various calculations at key points and on key pieces of equipment of the synthesis process that were seen to have a major impact on the cost/time analysis. Optimizations including, but not limited to, the scheduling of the entire process, were conducted to determine the model with the lowest cost.

Economic Optimizations of Albuterol Production

Team Name: The ChemCATs

Team Members: Shehara Perera, Aleksander Vogel, Helen Wilkinson

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

In 2004, albuterol was prescribed over 37 million times. As of 2019, the number of prescriptions for this drug has increased to over 60.68 million. Albuterol is primarily used to treat asthma including asthma attacks, exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Louisiana Tech Chemical Engineering students were asked to design a process that produced 5,000 kilograms per year of albuterol. The system was modeled using the process simulator ChemCAD and priced using cost equations from Turton, Shaeiwitz, Bhattacharyya, and Whiting (2018). Topological and parametric optimizations were explored along with different chemical routes to the product. The recycle streams increased the complexity of the simulator significantly but were required to accurately model the concentration build-up in the system. The impact of reactor residence time, reactor size, separator recycle purity, and equipment set up on the economics will be presented. Process hazards will be identified and suggestions to mitigate hazards will be presented.

Application of Albuterol Chemistry For the Development and Optimization of a Batch Industrial Process

Team Name: Cerame and Akpandara

Team Members: Samuel Akpandara, Mario Cerame

Advisor: Dr. James Palmer

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic caused massive disruption in the supply chain of active pharmaceutical ingredients into the United States, revealing the need to increase the production of essential drugs stateside. One of these essential drugs is albuterol (also known as salbutamol), used to treat symptoms of respiratory complications (asthma, COPD). An industrial-scale batch process to produce 5,000 kilograms per year of albuterol sulfate was developed and modeled using available literature data. The process was generated and optimized economically via sizing and modeling operating conditions of equipment, as well as preliminary scheduling of labor, to lower costs of raw materials, capital/rental, labor scheduling, filtration, solvent recovery and purification, waste disposal, and utilities.