Date Approved
12-1-2005
Embargo Period
4-11-2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S. in Chemical Engineering
Department
Chemical Engineering
College
Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering
Sponsor
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Advisor
Slater, C. Stewart
Subject(s)
Drug development; Green chemistry
Disciplines
Chemical Engineering | Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Abstract
The research of this thesis focused on the environmental and processing metrics during the development of two different drugs. Previous research in life cycle assessments and green engineering have focused on other products and processes, but only a limited amount of studies have been conducted for pharmaceutical applications. This analysis concerned a gate-to-gate analysis of two distinct pharmaceutical products along with the development of a solvent selection table. The goal of this research was to determine how various processing and environmental metrics were affected by process improvements.
The first drug was the pravastatin, which was made via a fermentation route. Four lab scale routes were investigated for this drug. The second study tracked the processing and environmental metrics of another drug through three different scales; labscale, glass-scale, and pilot-scale. A solvent selection table was also developed as part of the research for this project and included in this paper.
Some of the conclusions for this analysis were that over time the processing metrics and the environmental metrics decreased for different reasons. The factors that contributed to a decrease in environmental factors were increased yield, solvent substitution and the removal of process equipment.
Recommended Citation
Fichana, Daniel, "Green engineering and gate-to gate life cycle assessments for pharmaceutical products" (2005). Theses and Dissertations. 996.
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/996
