Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb
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We participated in the Networking @ Siemens Pharma event on September 22, 2022 at Siemens City Vienna. Prof. Nenad Bolf gave an interesting presentation: Application of PAT &QbD in Crystallization Process Control . Most of the presentations focused on digital transformation in the pharmaceutical industry. After the useful presentations, we visited the Siemens Living Lab and made important business contacts during the networking dinner.
Under the organization of the National Association of Chemists and Chemical Engineers of Spain (ANQUE) , the 9 th World Congress on Particle Technology (WCPT9) ( https://wcpt9.org/ )was held in Madrid, Spain. With more than 600 participants from 35 countries, it covered virtually all areas related to particle technology. Our team member Matea Gavran attended and gave an oral presentation in the Crystallization and Precipitation section.
Toulouse Graduate School of Chemical, Materials, and Industrial Engineering ( ENSIACET – French: École nationale supérieure des ingénieurs en arts chimiques et technologiques ) is one of the largest educational institutions for chemical engineering and technology in Europe. As part of the networking, we visited the laboratories and held meetings with the head of the chemical engineering laboratory, the head of the crystallization laboratory and the head of the biotechnology laboratory to discuss possible collaboration related to the application of PAT in advanced process control.
We participated with two poster presentations at the 19 th Ružička Days, Today Science – Tomorrow Industry conference, held in Vukovar, September 21–23, 2022. Josip Sacher presented the results of his research on determining the optimal cooling profile of a batch cooling crystallizer ( PDF ). Željka Ujević-Andrijić presented her research on data-driven estimation of critical quality attributes in industrial processes ( PDF ).
In the framework of the CeSaR project at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology undergraduate and graduate students improve their practical and soft skills using advanced software to simulate, optimize and control industrial processes through adapted laboratory exercises. In our laboratories student can widen their knowledge of process modeling and control, as well as they are introduced to the techniques of process analytical technology (PAT).
During May practical courses with the application of interactive real-time process simulators for Siemens Croatia employees were held at our department. Participants acquired knowledge of advanced process control, process diagnostics and optimization, as well as process measurements, equipment’s and unit operations. During the courses, real-life examples of industrial processes were interactively analyzed using advanced software packages for real-time process simulations ( PiControl Solutions and ChemCad software package).
On April 4 th & 5 th our team visited Siemens Living Lab and usePAT in Vienna. Team of PAT experts in Siemens Living Lab introduced us with their concepts and system for PAT tools integration. We presented the CrystAPC project and proposed further possibilities for integrating our research within SIPAT platform. UsePAT is a startup that develops and produces ultrasonic devices for the improvement of in-line process monitoring techniques. We had a tour of the lab and got to see their technology in use.
Recently we have finished construction and startup of our advanced crystallization laboratory . With the support of Blazemetrics company and laboratory equipment suppliers, we installed the state-of-the-art process microscope for research and development of crystallization processes. Installed Blaze 900 is a laser microscope with integrated Raman optics specialized for particle signal measurement. The device will speed up process development and monitoring by giving accurate data on Raman spectrum of particles, crystal shape and crystal size distribution in real time.
We presented our research at the International Conference XIV Meeting of Young Chemical Engineers held in Zagreb on February 24 th and 25 th . J. Sacher presented research Improvement of granulometric properties of crystals by constant supersaturation feedback control (PDF). We also presented the posters: Comparison of linear calibration models for predicting glycine concentration (PDF); Fouling deposition monitoring using neural network models with estimated unmeasured process variables in crude oil pre-heat heat exchangers ( PDF ).
We participated on Croatian Meeting of Chemists and Chemical Engineers held from October 5 th to 8 th with three poster presentations: Development of the calibration model for real-time measurement of glycine concentration in glycine-water system using ANN ( PDF ); Influence of antisolvent addition on crystallization kinetics and granulometric properties of fosamprenavir calcium ( PDF ); Fouling detection in industrial heat exchanger using recurrent LSTM neural network model .
