Simulation of Continuous-Flow Pharmaceutical Production of Ibuprofen using ASPEN PLUS

Abstract

Ibuprofen, a widely used therapeutic molecule, has been identified as an ideal candidate for continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing (CPM) due to its high global demand and extreme societal importance. The development of a continuous production system for ibuprofen aims to improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact. Based on the data obtained through laboratory experiments and parameters calculated in this work, an industrialscale production with a capacity of 200 tons/year of ibuprofen salt was simulated using Aspen Plus. This involves designing a steady-state process model and simulation for the continuous synthesis and purification of ibuprofen, utilizing plug flow reactors and a final separation step to achieve high API recovery