Acetonitrile (ACN) demand is rising rapidly across peptide and oligonucleotide manufacturing, raising concerns about supply security, pricing, and sustainability. This work highlights how SK pharmteco is evaluating recovery and reuse strategies that can deliver high-purity ACN, reduce dependence on fresh solvent, reduce waste generation, and lower the contribution of raw materials to costs.
High-grade acetonitrile is essential for oligonucleotide and peptide synthesis, yet projected demand growth could outpace production capacity in the coming years. In response, SK pharmteco, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, and GEA have evaluated a recovery and reuse process for ACN from non-aqueous synthesis streams using an initial falling-film evaporation step followed by continuous melt crystallization.
The results presented in the poster show that this approach can produce a solvent of equivalent or better quality than fresh ACN while improving supply resilience and supporting cost control. The collaboration demonstrated an overall reduction in procured fresh acetonitrile of about 75%, along with lower waste streams, reduced carbon footprint, and added public-safety benefits through fewer truck deliveries.
The process was developed to address practical manufacturing needs, including dry solvent requirements, impurity removal, scalability, and economic feasibility. The poster also highlights potential applications for recovered high-purity ACN in synthesis, HPLC, and LC-MS analytical work, and R&D process development.
Download the poster to explore the process, pilot results, quality data, projected capacity, and next-step evaluation plans for ACN recovery and reuse.
Author: Olivier Dapremont, Ph.D., Executive Director, Technology and Innovation at SK pharmteco