Pervaporation as a green drying process for tetrahydrofuran recovery in pharmaceutical synthesis

Abstract

The use of pervaporation technology as a green drying process for the recovery and reuse of the solvent, tetrahyrdofuran, in a pharmaceutical synthesis has been evaluated. A case study has been performed on a step in the synthesis of a new oncology drug. Pervaporation has been integrated with a constant-volume distillation process to produce a hybrid system that allows for the recovery and reuse of tetrahydrofuran. An economic and environmental analysis shows that this is an effective technology for this application. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.