Bespoke Crystallisation and Control Laboratory equipment

The University intends to award this contract under the conditions of regulation 33.4.b(ii) of the Public Contracts (Scotland) regulations.

This Contract will include a system for automated crystallization experimentation that will fit into a larger workflow for crystallization development at CMAC. The design and build of the system must have integrated automation, for the execution of experiments, and a data acquisition system.

The physical build must be able to accommodate 6 individual glass reactors (minimal volume of 1 litre each) and fit into a bench-mounted fume hood 9.5 feet wide or a floor-mounted walk-in hood 8 feet wide. Software-driven valve control must be available. Level sensors must also be present. A variety of pump options must be included (gear, diaphragm, piston and peristaltic) to accommodate various chemical systems. Pumps must also be software controlled. Wetted parts must be PTFE, Kalrez and glass. Safety systems such as nitrogen inerting and an emergency stop are essential.

The system must be able to integrate with the following equipment already within the facility: Lauda TCU heater/chiller, Heidolph stirrer, Mettler Toledo Easysampler, Shimadzu HPLC, Mettler Toledo FBRM, BlazeMetrics and Mettler Toledo ReactIR.

The system must have an associated intelligent control system with all reactor control parameters wirelessly connected to a supervisory control and data acquisition system. The control system should allow users to queue a series of experiments for execution. Integration of optimisation for design of experiments should also be available through common experiment design algorithms, e.g. D-optimal, SNOBFIT, Bayesian, etc. Data from all reactor components for the system must be available in both graphic and tabular format via a web interface. All data sources will utilize the time stamp with a typical data cycle of 3 seconds. The data must be exportable in CSV or Excel file format. To ensure system security, the system implementation must be stand-alone with no requirement for external network connections.

A user friendly and intuitive interface is essential to allow smooth integration with a wide range of users from different scientific disciplines. The control system must provide user flexibility to configure many different types of experiments in a recipe-based workflow.

Installation and training must be provided by the supplier. Manuals must also be provided. Equipment must be delivered within 15 weeks of an order being placed.

On the basis of the above, the automated crystallisation development platform offered by Snapdragon Chemistry, Inc is the only equipment able to meet all of the requirements as detailed.