Process intensification of atorvastatin calcium crystallization for target polymorph development via continuous...

In this paper, continuous crystallization of Atorvastatin calcium (ASC) using a continuous oscillatory baffled crystallizer (COBC) has been investigated. Like most API manufacturing, ASC is manufactured batchwise and the pure API is recovered via batch combined cooling and antisolvent crystallization (CCAC) process, which has the challenges of low productivity, wide crystal size distribution (CSD) and sometimes polymorphic form contamination. To overcome the limitations of the batch crystallization, continuous crystallization of ASC was studied in a NiTech (United Kingdom) DN15 COBC, manufactured by Alconbury Weston Ltd. (AWL, United Kingdom), with the aim to improve productivity and CSD of the desired polymorph. The COBC has the advantage of high heat transfer rates and improved mixing that significantly reduces the crystallization time. It also has the advantage of spatial temperature distribution and multiple addition ports to control supersaturation and hence the crystallization process. This work uses an array of process analytical technology (PAT) tools to assess key process parameters that affect the polymorphic outcome and CSD. Two parameters were found to have significant impact on the polymorph, they are ratio of solvent to antisolvent at the point of mixing of the two streams and presence of seeds. The splitting of antisolvent into two addition ports in the COBC was found to give the desired form. The CCAC of ASC in COBC was found to be -30-fold more productive than the batch CCAC process. The cycle time for generating 100 g of desired polymorphic form of ASC also significantly reduced from 22 h in batch process to 12 min in the COBC. The crystals obtained using a CCAC process in a COBC had a narrower CSD compared to that from a batch crystallization process.