Equipment

VUOS multi-purpose pilot plant is well-equipped with a range of glass-lined, stainless steel and rubber-lined reactors for flexible batch-wise production. They are grouped into production trains for a wide range of chemical and physical processes. Sufficient support by rectification units and auxiliary operations (e.g. for isolation of products) makes VUOS a good partner for you.

We are able to develop processes based on our own know-how, or to scale-up and/or optimise existing processes for full commercial production. We co-operate with interesting outsourcing partners on new important pharma-projects.

Pilot plant production is mostly orientated towards VUOS custom syntheses activities [usually under secrecy agreement] ranging in volume from ten kilos to ten tons.

Production is mainly directed into the field of pharmaceutical intermediates ["starting materials"].

The manufacturing service is supported by a highly experienced team of chemists and chemical engineers, with a special expertise in adapting processes and plant layout to manufacture a wide range of speciality/fine chemicals (see our Product List).

We are able to handle some obnoxious/hazardous chemicals, e.g.

• Boron trichloride
• Chlorosulphuric acid
• Phosphorus oxychloride
• Oxalyl chloride

• Sodium borohydride
• Sodium hydride
• Sodium sulfide
• Alkyl Lithium

• 20% Oleum
• Nitric acid [65%, 98%]
• Hydrazine

Production unit equipment

Reactors

Distillation Equipment

Autoclaves for hydrogenation and pressure reaction

Low temperature equipment

Phosgenation unit equipment

+ drying, rectification, distillation  and filtration capacity

Kilolab equipment

+ drying, distillation  and filtration capacity

Clean Room class D

+ drying, distillation  and filtration capacity

Laboratory Equipment

Rectification Distillation

Rectification stills equipped with high performance packing (SS, Sulzer type), ranging in performance up to 60 theoretical plates.

Rectification still with conventional packing, separation performance 100 theoretical plates. Atmospheric / vacuum operation, fully automatic control system.

Distillation

Wiped-film rotary evaporator (glass, 0.1 m ² evaporation surface, operating vacuum down to 0.8 torr). Optionally can be built in a rectification unit (ca 20 theoretic plates) as a film boiler.

Short-path evaporator - glass, operating temperature up to 250 deg C, vacuum down to 0.2 torr.

Hydrogenation

Experience collected mainly in areas of catalytic hydrogenation of nitro-groups (to resp. amines), carbonyl-groups (to alcohols), oximes (to amino-groups) and reductive cyclisation.

Operating conditions: pressure up to 20 bar, batch volume up to 8 l, temperature up to 150 deg C. Automatic control & monitoring, possibility to be run in a semi-continuous regime (reactants feeding during reaction by metering pumps).

Pressure operation

Typical operations include alkylations, aminations, oxidations, pressure re-crystallisation.

Operating conditions: pressure up to 50 bar, heating up to 250°C (automatical control), possibility to be run in a semi-continuous way (see above).

Lower-temperature syntheses

Used mainly for special chlorinations (using PCl5) and nitrations in jacketed glass equipment. Operating conditions: temperature typically at - 25°C, batch volume up to 20 l, semi-continuous regime possible, inert gas blanketing as a standard.

Under construction

wiped film rotary evaporator, stainless steel, 0.3 m ², 200°C, 1 mbar vacuum

wiped film rotary evaporator, stainless steel, 0.7 m ², 200°C, 1 mbar vacuum

Auxiliary equipment

In addition, the reactors are equipped with various accessories for distilling, azeotropic distillation, reflux, and computer control system of operating conditions. The apparatuses are connected with absorption and adsorption units. Numerous tanks, pumps, piping [stainless, glass, plastic] and hose connection sections [PTFE], mixers, dryers and heat transfer systems [steam, brine and hot oil] are available.