Fujifilm’s chemical production method Flow Synthesis Method certified as the highest rank in the Fujifilm Group’s certification program “Green Value Products”

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation (President and CEO, Representative Director: Teiichi Goto) announces that its production method for chemical products, which contributes to a significant reduction in environmental impact using innovative technologies, has been certified as "Diamond", the highest rank in the Fujifilm Group's certification program "Green Value Products”. The production method certified this time is "Flow Synthesis for the production of Chemicals by Low-temperature Sequential Reaction of Lithiation and Borate Esterification^*1“, a flow synthesis method to carry out key reactions in the production of a wide range of chemical products. This is the first time that Fujifilm’s production method has been certified in the program.

Under its corporate social responsibility plan “Sustainable Value Plan 2030”, Fujifilm is working to address climate change in terms of both "resolving social issues through our business activities" and "considering the environment and society in our business processes. Towards decarbonization, Fujifilm has set the target of reducing CO₂ emissions by 50% from both the energy used in the company’s operations and from the entire product life cycle by 50% by fiscal year 2030 compared to fiscal year 2019 level. As a measure to achieve the target, Fujifilm has formulated the Fujifilm Group’s Environmental Strategy "Green Value Climate Strategy”. The company is promoting production activities with low environmental impact and the creation and dissemination of products and services with outstanding environmental performance.
Fujifilm launched the “Green Value Products” in fiscal 2018, under which the company certifies its products and services that meet certain criteria related to environmental considerations. The certification criteria include “measures for climate change,” “resource saving and recycling,” “risk minimization for chemical substances,” and “biodiversity”. Fujifilm classifies products and services into three certification ranks - Diamond, Gold, and Silver - according to the degree of their contribution to reducing environmental impact. Fujifilm has certified a cumulative total of 226 products as “Green Value Products” by FY2022.

In order to objectively and quantitatively evaluate the environmental performance of its production methods and promote the dissemination of its production methods with excellent environmental performance, Fujifilm has expanded the scope of Green Value Products to include production methods in addition to the existing products and services. Fujifilm has certified “Flow Synthesis for the production of Chemicals by Low-temperature Sequential Reactions of Lithiation and Borate Esterification" as "Diamond", the highest rank in "Green Value Products". This method is based on Fujifilm’s proprietary technology^*2 and has improved productivity and energy consumption efficiency. Fujifilm has confirmed that this method can reduce CO₂ emissions^*4 per kilogram of chemical products^*3 by approximately 53% compared to the industry's mainstream production method, the batch synthesis method.

Fujifilm will contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society by promoting the creation of products and services with superior environmental performance, and by accelerating the production activities that use production methods with low environmental impact based on quantitative and objective evaluations.

• *1 Flow synthesis is a method of mixing or reacting material chemicals in a continuous flow in a fine column with a diameter of between several hundred microns to a few millimeters.
• *2 Technology to design mixers and heat exchangers that maximize reaction efficiency based on chemical reaction engineering.
• *3 Arylboronic acid derivatives produced by sequential low-temperature reactions of lithiation and boric acid esterification. Arylboronic acid derivatives are used as key raw materials and intermediates in the production of a wide range of chemical products, including raw materials for pharmaceuticals.
• *4 CO₂ emissions of chemical products produced by sequential low-temperature reactions of lithiation and boric acid esterification using the flow synthesis method and the conventional batch synthesis method were calculated by our LCA calculation method.

The flow synthesis method has high cooling efficiency and can control temperatures with less solvent, reducing raw material-derived CO₂ emissions by about 40% compared to the batch synthesis method.

In contrast to the batch synthesis method which requires the entire reaction vessel to be cooled to an extremely low temperature (-80°C), the flow synthesis method requires only a small reaction zone to be cooled (0°C), reducing CO₂ emissions from cooling energy by more than 90%.

The flow synthesis method enables impurity reduction through high yield, reducing CO₂ emissions generated when impurities are disposed of by about 50% compared to the batch synthesis method.

Flow synthesis is a method of mixing or reacting material chemicals in a continuous flow in a fine column with a diameter of between several hundred microns to a few millimeters. Compared to batch synthesis, in which large amount of raw materials are mixed and reacted at once in a large reaction vessel, flow synthesis is suitable for various manufacturing scales. In addition, because reaction conditions can be precisely controlled, it can reduce the risks when synthesizing toxic or explosive substances, or working with high pressures or high temperatures. 
Furthermore, the batch synthesis method may require a large facility to keep the entire reactor vessel cool to prevent rapid reactions occurring in some part of the vessel, while the flow synthesis method requires the cooling only a small reaction zone.
In 2012, Fujifilm started manufacturing chemical products using the flow synthesis method. The company has been accumulating production experience and know-how as well as developing production methods that can be applied from small-volume production to mass production. Fujifilm also started contract manufacturing services for chemical products using the flow synthesis method, utilizing production facilities within the Fujifilm Group.

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