Crystallization, the missing link for sustainable manufacturing?

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Speaker

Torsten Stelzer

Molecular Sciences Research Center

University of Puerto Rico

Abstract

Crystallization, the missing link for sustainable manufacturing?

Sustainability is one of the grand challenges of our time. Pollution and greenhouse gas emissions continue to harm human health and the environment. The accelerating effects of climate change, particularly extreme weather events, threaten key socioeconomic systems, including (i) livability and workability, (ii) access to food, water, energy, and (iii) infrastructure. All carry enormous economic consequences. The chemical manufacturing industry, including pharma, is a major contributor to emissions due to its dependence on petro-based resources, high energy consumption, and substantial waste generation. Despite advances, current chemical manufacturing approaches remain inadequate to meet sustainability, socioeconomic, and geographical needs of a changing world.

The future of chemical manufacturing lies in a circular economy and a renewable bio-derived strategy (bioeconomy) through end-to-end, continuous, and modular processing. This talk focuses on the critical role of industrial crystallization in these efforts. Dr. Stelzer will present current challenges and highlights research opportunities in pharmaceutical manufacturing via innovative process and technology designs. While focused on pharmaceuticals, the scientific insights and technological advances are broadly applicable across bio- and chemical manufacturing industries, where crystallization plays a key role in process intensification and advanced manufacturing. This collaborative research aligns with global initiatives building a more sustainable circular (bio)economy.

Bio

Dr. Stelzer received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, in 2005 and 2009, respectively. He stayed on as Assistant Professor (Habilitand) before joining MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering for a two-year sabbatical (2012-2014). Subsequently, he joined the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) as Assistant, later promoted to Associate Professor, successfully balancing his academic ambitions with his personal life as part of a dual career couple. At UPR, he founded the collaborative Crystallization Design Institute. His research focuses on crystallization, purification and separation processes, and materials science of crystalline solid dispersions, with an emphasis on process intensification and integrated end-to-end processing. Dr. Stelzer currently leads several multi-PI, multi-institutional projects and collaborates with the private sector. From 2022-2024, he was a Visiting Professor at MIT and currently holds an Honorary Associate position at the Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He has authored over 80 scientific articles and book chapters and is named as an inventor on 20 patents and applications. You can find details of Dr. Stelzer at https://linkedin.com/in/torstenstelzer