A project which aims to revolutionise how a host of pharmaceutical and chemical products are made has received £709,000 in funding from the Scottish Funding Council, under its Demand-led Knowledge Exchange SPIRIT scheme.

The project, a collaboration between the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt, together with a range of SMEs and multinational industries including GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Schering-Plough, Fujifilm, NiTech and Warwick International, is focused on improving crystallisation technology for manufacturing.

More than 80% of pharmaceutical products and 60% of fine and specialty chemical products are made in crystalline form – for example, aspirin and paint pigments – however, current methods of making these crystalline forms is expensive, inefficient and their quality is difficult to control.

Scientists hope to use a new method of making the crystals that will reduce environmental impact by 40-90 per cent, reduce costs by 25-60 per cent and increase quality control.

The method will improve on existing processes where crystals are created in stirred batch vessels, by moving to a continuous flow production technique.

Professor Chick Wilson, Head of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow and leader of the SPIRIT project, said: “New processes based on continuous crystallisation methodologies could have major economic and environmental impacts. This project will offer crucial academic input to the development of platform solutions applying crystallisation science to manufacturing, geared directly at the need of end-users.”

Sandy Dobbie, chair of Chemical Sciences Scotland, said: “This is an important development for the chemical sciences in Scotland and across the world.

“This project is just the beginning – what we are seeing here is multi-national organisations with bases in Scotland engaging with several of our universities and our SMEs, explaining what they need to take their business to another level, and each group then working together to find the optimum solution to these universal problems.”

The grant was part of a larger £8.1m funding announcement made by the Scottish Government to support university and industry partnerships.

Announcing the funding, Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning said: "Our universities have an important role to play in helping us emerge strongly from the current economic downturn.

“As well as ensuring our people have the skills they need as individuals and to grow our economy, they are also businesses in their own right, generating around £2 billion a year. They support research and development in the business community and attract young people to live and work in Scotland.”

For more information contact Stuart Forsyth in the University of Glasgow Media Relations Office on 0141 330 4831 or email s.forsyth@admin.gla.ac.uk

First published: 20 April 2010

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