Delft: a new low-energy chemical process

Licensing opportunity

Maaike Kroon, a researcher at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, has developed a sustainable and cheap process for manufacturing chemicals that combines the reaction and separation processes, eliminating waste solvents and using much less energy.

The method, combining the use of ionic liquids with supercritical carbon dioxide, has been proved in the production of a marketed drug for treating Parkinson’s disease. Delft University of Technology has a use patent on the combination of ionic liquids and supercritical carbon dioxide in the process.

In the reaction no organic solvents are used, no chemical waste is produced and the process requires 75 perc ent less energy than the current method. In addition, the end product is extremely pure.

While there are no technical obstacles preventing the industry from using this method, Kroon believes its adoption could be held back by investments in existing production plants.

The combination of ionic liquids with supercritical carbon dioxide can in principle be used for the production of many other materials, and three PhD researchers will conduct further work in this area at Delft.