SAFC, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich Group, has announced a $6.25 million investment program to expand its Lenexa, Kan., facility and create a global center of excellence for the seamless upstream and downstream production of dry powder media and reagents.

The project, supported by a $250,000 economic development grant from the Kansas Bioscience Authority, will include expanded pin milling and blending capabilities, enabling an increase of approximately 30% in batch production capacity. The expansion is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

SAFC, the world's largest supplier of dry powder media, previously performed milling operations at three sites using differing milling techniques. Through its Center of Excellence program, the company plans to consolidate all milling activity at Lenexa, using proprietary pin milling technology. In comparison with other milling technology platforms, such as ball milling, pin milling allows greater process control, including temperature, feed rates and milling speed, to provide powder media with increased consistency and performance.

The expansion will feature completely separate areas for animal-component free (ACF) and animal component containing (ACC) manufacture, both featuring pin milling technology. Upon completion, two dedicated manufacturing suites will have the capacity to produce seamless batches of ACF dry powder media in batch sizes ranging from 25 to 4,000 kg, with customized packaging available for all quantities. A separate dedicated manufacturing suite for ACC dry powder media products will also come on line as part of the expansion.