ERTFLOW
ICIQ’s new technology development unit
ERTFLOW was generated by the research group of Prof. Miquel Pericàs to develop and implement technical solutions in process intensification. Ertflow aims at developing proprietary technologies related to catalysis and flow chemistry and offering products and services to the fine chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries for the production of new high added value products and processes under flow conditions.
Dr. Esther Alza, Ertflow’s manager, sees Ertflow as the company that guides the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and fine chemicals sectors in the paradigm shift from batch to continuous flow processes.
Batch processing, the most usual production scheme in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries, presents important disadvantages such as low intensification, waste generation problems in scale-up and risks associated to large volumes. Flow techniques solve most of those problems and present a series of advantages -increased heat transfer, faster mixing or flexible production among others- that make them a very convenient alternative for the production of organic compounds.