The WeylChem Group of Companies is the fine chemicals platform of the International Chemicals Investors Group (ICIG) and a leading CDMO for customers in the agrochemical, pharmaceutical and other industries. The total volume of around EUR 10 million makes this project the most extensive investment in the Allessa subsidiary since it was incorporated into WeylChem eight years ago.

Halogen exchange reactions for the conversion of chlorinated to fluorinated aromatic hydrocarbons enable numerous new, multi-step syntheses that can be used to produce complex intermediates in high degrees of purity. Due to the wide range of possible applications for this technology, solutions can be realized for other segments beyond the classic target sectors of the agrochemical and pharmaceutical industries, such as electronics.

State-of-the-Art Technology

The plant is located in an existing production building. The underlying technology was taken over from the Frankfurt-Griesheim site, which will be closed in 2019, and creates what is currently the most modern production facility of its kind through additional process development and comprehensive automation. The integration into the Fechenheim Industrial Park ensures access to in-house maintenance, site security and wastewater treatment, as well as proven waste treatment and recycling processes.

The Hastelloy reactor, as the key apparatus of the plant, enables operation in acidic and basic conditions even at high chloride loads. This apparatus can be operated at vacuum of up to <10 mbar, pressures of maximum 6 bar(g) and up to a temperature maximum of 220°C. Processing to the final product takes place in a heated filtration through a hydraulically operated pressure filter and in a distillation, which is also made of resistant special materials. With more than 50 theoretical separation stages, the rectification can separate different pre-runs and intermediate runs. This enables the production of high-purity products, while the process control system used, with a degree of automation of more than 95%, ensures a high level of process reliability and product quality.

Sustainable and Reliable

The project was designed to be sustainable in several ways: The plant, which is being built in an existing production building, has an integrated energy management system and obtains its main raw materials by a short route from Industriepark Höchst, where WeylChem operates side-chain chlorination and, in the future, ring chlorination. In addition, potassium fluoride technology is generally much safer than the commonly used hydrogen fluoride process.

Uwe Brunk, President of the WeylChem Group of Companies, explains: "This makes us one of the few suppliers to produce high-purity chemical building blocks using this technology. Since we are backward integrated into the chlorination process within the WeylChem Group on the one hand and forward integrated into a wide range of downstream processes on the other, we can offer our customers the synthesis of a wide range of complex molecules.

Michael Badine, Technical Marketing Manager at WeylChem, adds: "There is great interest in the market. Several customers have already signed supply contracts with us during the construction phase, and further sampling is currently underway.

"Realization in record time It will take just over two years between the idea and the planned start of production. This is remarkable, not least because the plant has been built in a production building during ongoing operations. "This installation in record time is only possible thanks to the excellent cooperation of all specialist departments," says Wolfgang Böhm, who as managing director of Allessa is responsible for the overall project.

WeylChem expects to deliver the first products in the third quarter of 2021.