Scale-up of solvent-free synthesis

Solvents are traditionally assumed to be essential for most chemical reactions to proceed at an acceptable rate and in a controlled way. They are correspondingly ubiquitous in chemical processes, but simultaneously generate enormous amounts of waste, deplete fossil resources and require large amounts of energy to produce, purify and recycle. Finding cleaner and more sustainable ways of manufacturing chemicals and materials is a priority goal globally for the foreseeable future. Therefore, innovative thinking to come up with new types of processes which do not need solvents, and which can be scaled up to industrial production levels, is now critically important. 'Mechanochemistry' is a way of inducing chemical reactions simply by grinding solids together, and it is now attracting attention as an alternative general approach to traditional solvent-intensive methods. It has recently emerged that by using surprisingly simple, energy-efficient grinding apparatus such as ball mills, many reactions between solids can actually be performed, at least on small scales, often
within a few minutes and without any added solvent. However, a critical issue now is how to scale-up this mechanochemical synthesis to industrially-applicable levels. This project aims to provide a step-change in this area by enabling such chemistry to be done on larger scales so making it more applicable to industrial implementation. This project is highly interdisciplinary, bringing together experts in chemistry, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and pharmaceutical processing. The project is structured in order to: 1) gain greater knowledge and understanding of how such chemistry works and thus how to optimise it, and 2) explore how it can be used to provide new types of chemical reactions and chemistry and processes. A recently-formed university spin-out company will act a vehicle to maximise the commercial impact of this research.

Professor James (PI) is dedicated not only to innovative and challenging work of a fundamental nature but also to realizing tangible impact from that work.
In 2012 founded a spin-out company, MOF Technologies (www.moftechnologies.com) based on IP arising from an EPSRC-sponsored project (GR/T23145/01, 'Solventless synthesis of metal organic frameworks,' £113K, 2005-2008). To our knowledge, this is the only company world-wide which has the necessary IP rights to compete with BASF in the commercial manufacture of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). MOF Technologies is an excellent vehicle through which to demonstrate synthesis by extrusion in a commercial context. The company produces and markets MOFs by solvent-free synthesis and this project therefore matches very well with its commercial goals (see Statement of Support). It is keen to license IP arising from this project from Queen's University Belfast (who will own the IP). It already supplies MOFs to two distributors (i.e. it is establishing routes to market) and is in discussions for quantities as large as 200 kg. It has also identified commercial opportunities for mechanochemical synthesis of products other than MOFs. Furthermore, it currently has more than 70 significant links to chemical, distribution and engineering companies. Therefore, it would be able to pursue ventures in collaboration with a range of more established companies and/or establish sub-licensing agreements in line with its existing business model. Since Professor James is CTO of MOF Technologies there will be effective communication between the academic and industrial partners. Also, promoting researcher mobility, the PDRA will be formally seconded into the company for up to six months during the project to transfer his/her hands-on expertise and tailor the methods towards the company goals, effectively as an informal Knowledge Transfer Partnership. Specifically, this work will range from optimization of the developed extrusive synthetic methods with regard to product quality, process cost and scale, up to devising new extrusive synthesis methods for alternative products not investigated in the pure research phase.
We will also organize up to five industrial visits to the lab for one-to-one clinics to demonstrate the process, potentially tailored specifically to a company's particular materials of interest. We will provide up to six summer studentships over the grant period for undergraduates and potentially school students in order to provide them with potentially career-determining experience of the research environment, to improve their comprehension of academic literature and the potential applications of fundamental research, and to enhance their laboratory skills, communication skills (through group presentations) and confidence.
We will naturally seek to disseminate the results in high-profile journals such as Angewandte Chemie International Edition and Journal of the American Chemical Society. As well as academic meetings, trade fairs will be used to disseminate the work and network more directly with potential end-users, specifically: RSC Faraday Meeting on Mechanochemistry, May 2014, Montreal, education and integration of PDRA; InformEx 2015 or 2016 (venue tba, global trade fair to network with end-users); 249th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, March 2015, Denver, Program Theme: Chemical Resources: Extraction, Refining and Conservation; ACS Gordon Conference on Green Chemistry 2016, venue tba), 9th INCOME International Conference on Mechanochemistry 2016 venue tba). The PI has a good track record of dissemination through the media (~25 articles since 2002,e.g. C&E News, BBC, Chemistry World) and these avenues will also be actively pursued.
We will also set up a dedicated web page to publicize the project to the general public and to interact with industrialists. We will also commission a professional video for dissemination via the web site, conferences and YouTube.