Hengdian Group’s Apeloa Pharmaceutical uses Flow Chemistry for sustainable manufacturing
HENGDIAN, China, Aug. 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hengdian Group’s pharmaceutical arm Apeloa is using Flow Chemistry, a safer and more environmentally-friendly manufacturing approach than traditional batch processing, to drive sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry.
Apeloa, one of China’s top 5 CDMOs, is placing strong emphasis on environmental responsibility and sustainability in pharmaceutical manufacturing. It has invested over USD20 million over the past decade into its flow chemistry platform, which uses less energy, produces less emissions and increases resource efficiency compared to batch processing.
Flow chemistry is a method of running chemical reactions as a continuous stream, instead of as discrete lots, or “batches.” “The most important aspects of flow chemistry are that we improve process safety and sustainability,” said Dr. Johannes Platzek, Apeloa’s Chief Scientific Officer of CDMO and a veteran organic chemist. “Flow chemistry is our method of choice for dealing with toxic materials, highly reactive gases and explosive reactions,” he said.
Internationally, the flow chemistry market is projected to grow at 10% CAGR to USD 2.9billion by 2028, buoyed by regulatory support and scientific progress, as well as commercialization of new innovative drugs and AI/automation growth.
Improving process safety and sustainability
Flow chemistry enables scientists to forego explosive or hazardous chemistries, making it significantly safer and less polluting. It uses compact tubular reactors with fixed flow rates to give scientists tight control over temperature, pressure and time. The physical architecture of the flow reactors together with the flow process itself produces less waste, uses less energy and results in higher yields. This slashes Process Mass Intensity (PMI) footprints, thus closely aligning efficiency improvements with sustainability gains.
Over the last ten years, Apeloa has continuously developed and refined its flow chemistry platform, both technologically and commercially. Apeloa’s Boston site offers leading expertise in early-stage flow chemistry, while its Shanghai and Hengdian locations provide gram to kilogram scale samples and more.
Apeloa Pharmaceutical has recently published a Flow Chemistry white paper demonstrating its capabilities across a wide range of high-value, high-risk reactions for various pharmaceutical chemicals and products.
Expertise across the entire drug development lifecycle
Apeloa’s flow chemistry platform supports manufacturing capabilities covering the entire lifecycle of drug development, from early development to commercial manufacturing. Its team of over 50 flow chemistry scientists and engineers oversee R&D and production in more than 20 types of flow chemistry reactions, including:
- Azide and Hydrogenation: safely running explosive chemistry inhouse at 10-minute cycle times vs 12 hours in batch, while most companies avoid or outsource azide work.
- Nitration with Acetyle Nitrate: obtaining 80% yield in just 3 minutes vs 52% in over 4 hours, while producing dangerous intermediates in-situ, avoiding isolation.
- Ozonation: achieving exceptional safety and energy-saving improvements by running at room temperature what is normally at -60C with explosion risk.
- Fluorination (Ishikawa): handling 12,000 tons/year capacity and 2500kg batch with >90% yield, exceeding most commercial standards.
- Organometallic Flow Chemistry: enabling low energy cost linked with its use of very high heat exchange surface, allowing for energy saving of more than 60%.
The full version of Apeloa’s white paper can be found here.
Contact: vivian.lin@hengdian-group.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b107b9d4-7db5-4ca0-8d19-f4bd1361a152
Apeloa Pharmaceutical uses Flow Chemistry for greener, safer manufacturing
Apeloa Pharmaceutical uses Flow Chemistry for greener, safer manufacturing
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