Investigating the Reactor Section of the Production Process of Tissue Plasminogen Activator Using Simulation

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

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University of Kashan

10.22034/ijche.2024.442798.1395

Abstract

Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA) is a recombinant protein used to treat blood clotting disorders such as heart strokes, acute myocardial, and pulmonary blockage. The process design of drug production after laboratory culture consists of two sections: reactor and separation. This research aims to investigate the reactor (fermentor) section. The reactor section has three series reactors of different sizes in which tPA cultivation and industrial production are carried out. In this research, first, a base-case simulation of the reactor section was performed by Aspen Batch Plus software, and then a retrofit was presented to remove the bottleneck of the third reactor. 14 days and 15 hours are needed in aiming to achieve the production of 80 Kg tPA/year assuming 50 batch production per year for two completely similar parallel units. The time of each batch process is reduced to about 13 days, 4 hours and 2 minutes in the retrofit design of the process to solve this problem. Reducing the time of the production process helps to increase the annual production up to 82.16 Kg tPA/year. An increase in fixed costs, etc. is inevitable in the modified case because of adding a Heat Exchanger, Hold-up Tank, and Pump.

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Iranian Chemical Engineering Journal

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 27 April 2024

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