Michael Vischmidt, Dmitry Ponomarenko. ARBOK Strategic Research Institute. October 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23282522 (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0). ResearchGate: publication page.
Pharma cannot do without a solvent that is hard to live with
Dichloromethane is a solvent in pharma production. Extraction and synthesis run on it, and without them many drugs simply cannot be made. It boils at 40 °C, is volatile, and is so toxic that the US has sharply restricted it. But there is nowhere to go: it is nearly irreplaceable and still needed.
A good solvent is destroyed, and the plant pays twice
The cycle leaves spent solvent mixed with water and impurities, and the industry offers only one answer: dispose of it or burn it. The plant pays twice, for a new batch and for disposal of the old one. Nobody counts the money spent on disposal. Taking the spent mixture away and disposing of it in the US costs about $1,800–3,000 per tonne, and that is disposal only. Add about $450–750 per tonne for hazardous transport, fines and accident insurance, and $600–900 for the new solvent bought instead of the returned one. The total is $2,850–4,650 per tonne, wasted up the stack.
ARBOK-Solvents recovers the solvent on site at room temperature
The alternative is ARBOK-Solvents: deep-vacuum recovery of the solvent at room temperature, right on site. The module stands next to the reactor or the extraction line and connects to the spent stream. Under vacuum each component boils on its own, in turn, without heating or consumables. Dichloromethane leaves as a separate fraction, water separately, the other solvents in their own fractions, and the impurities stay as a dry concentrate. The solvents and water return to the process, and all this takes just 1 kWh per m3.
The unit is simpler and safer than the column it replaces
For pharma it is also safety: no heating, no open flame, no shipping of hazardous waste. The site leaves the hauling chain for its biggest solvent stream, and the audit is simpler, because the solvent never left the plant. The mixture is split in one unit, with no reagents, membranes, boiler or distillation column. It runs continuously or in batches, depending on how the plant generates waste.
One cost line remains instead of two
Instead of buying new solvent and hauling the old, one cost remains: running the module. The returned solvent replaces new purchases, and the residue is a small dry amount that can also be used or sold. Payback of the unit is 5–7 years, and exact figures come from a mixture assay. The effect is $2,850–4,650 on every tonne of solvent. Globally, ARBOK-Solvents in pharma and fine chemicals is worth $0.2–0.7 billion a year.
The task is the same in India, China, Europe and the US
India and China make most of the active ingredients, Europe has strict emission rules, and the US restricts dichloromethane. The task is the same everywhere: keep the solvent on site and out of the furnace. Pharma needs a solvent that can be neither burned nor released, so it must be returned. A good solvent should work many times, not once and into the furnace.