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The chemical industry has witnessed many important developments during past decades largely enabled by process intensification techniques. Some of them are already proven at commercial scale (e.g. reactive distillation) while others (e.g. ultrasound-assisted extraction/crystallization/reaction) are on their way to becoming the next-generation technologies. This article focuses on the advances of ultrasound (US)-assisted technologies that could lead in the near future to significant improvements in commercial activities. The aim is to provide an authoritative discussion on US-assisted technologies that are currently emerging from the research environment into the chemical industry, as well as give an overview of the current state-of-the-art applications of US in chemical processing (e.g. enzymatic reactive distillation, crystallization of API). Sufficient information is included to allow the assessment of US-assisted technologies and the challenges for implementation, as well as their potential for commercial applications. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Separation of steroids by liquid–liquid extraction with ionic liquids (ILs) as solvent was studied both experimentally and by simulation using a model mixture of progesterone and pregnenolone. The studies involved a solvent screening using COSMO-RS software for estimation of progesterone solubility. An experimental compatibility study of several solvents with reasonable progesterone solubility with several ILs. The results showed tert-butyl methyl ether (TBME)–butyl methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIM BF4) as the most promising solvent combination. Next, equilibrium partitioning of both progesterone and pregnenolone in this solvent combination was determined experimentally. Fixed bed studies using solvent impregnated resin (SIR) obtained by impregnation of BMIM BF4 in silica showed that it is feasible to obtain highly pure progesterone in such a process. However, the yield was far from quantitative and thus a fractional extraction process was studied by simulation of a counter current extraction process. The simulation study showed that with fractional extraction highly pure progesterone (excess >0.99) can be obtained at a yield of >0.95 when a minimum of 24 equilibrium stages are applied.

The chemical industry has witnessed many important developments during past decades largely enabled by process intensification techniques. Some of them are already proven at commercial scale (e.g. reactive distillation) while others (e.g. ultrasound‐assisted extraction/crystallization/reaction) are on their way to becoming the next‐generation technologies. This article focuses on the advances of ultrasound (US)‐assisted technologies that could lead in the near future to significant improvements in commercial activities. The aim is to provide an authoritative discussion on US‐assisted technologies that are currently emerging from the research environment into the chemical industry, as well as give an overview of the current state‐of‐the‐art applications of US in chemical processing (e.g. enzymatic reactive distillation, crystallization of API). Sufficient information is included to allow the assessment of US‐assisted technologies and the challenges for implementation, as well as their potential for commercial applications. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.