Our R&D Philosophy
Innovation Designed for Scale
Research at Navin Fluorine is held to one standard: can it be made to work in the real world? Every programme we run is development-led, guided by the practical demands of industrial execution rather than scientific novelty alone. From the earliest stages of route scouting to final technology transfer, our work is shaped by a clear set of objectives:
- Developing commercially viable processes
- Improving process efficiency and reliability
- Enabling safe and sustainable manufacturing
- Supporting evolving regulatory requirements
- Accelerating industrial scalability
- Enhancing operational and environmental performance
This philosophy bridges the gap between what is possible in a laboratory and what is executable at scale, ensuring that every innovation we pursue creates measurable impact for our customers and the industries they serve.
Our R&D Ecosystem: Two Integrated Sites
Central R&D hub: Fluorination technologies, vapor phase chemistry, high-pressure reactions & distillation, advanced analytical infrastructure, process safety lab, kilo & pilot-scale validation, hydrogenation facility
CDMO development infrastructure: Synthesis labs, high-pressure reactions, kilo labs, process safety lab, kilo & pilot-scale validation
Why Navin Fluorine
- Deep expertise in fluorination and other complex chemistries
- Proven ability to scale up hazardous and multi-step processes
- Integrated model from lab to commercial plant
- Engineering-led development ensuring real-world manufacturability
- Process safety integrated from day one to aim for safe scale-up to commercial scale
Sustainability: Built Into Process Design
We design sustainability into every process from the start, choosing greener routes, maximizing solvent recovery, intensifying processes, minimizing waste and energy, and reducing emissions, which means you get lower manufacturing costs, faster time-to-market, and regulatory-ready documentation.
Integrated
Innovation Engine
Our R&D organisation is built around six interconnected capabilities. Each is distinct. Together, they form a complete path from discovery to commercial manufacturing.
Synthesis Capabilities
Navin Fluorine operates one of the broadest fluorination capability platforms in India, with proven expertise in the safe handling of HF and hazardous fluorination systems at commercial scale.
Key capabilities:
- Route scouting and process development
- Multi-step synthesis and sector-specific development
- Fluorination technologies
- Process optimisation and scale readiness
Infrastructure
Purpose: An end-to-end physical scale-up ecosystem, from laboratory to commercial manufacturing, designed to handle complex and hazardous chemistries safely and reliably at every stage of development.
Key capabilities:
- R&D Labs with multi-fume hood hazardous chemistry handling
- High-pressure reactors (up to ~100 bar) and variable temperature setups (-100°C to ~1000°C)
- Vapour-phase and electrochemical systems
- Kilo Lab (1-50 kg) and Pilot Plant (50-500 kg)
- Commercial multi-tonne scale across Surat, Dewas, and Dahej
Chemistry & Technology Platforms
Purpose: Proven chemistry and technology platforms covering the full spectrum of fluorination routes, hazardous chemistry, vapour-phase processes, and continuous flow technologies, built on decades of deep fluorine chemistry expertise.
Key capabilities:
- Fluorination technologies including ECF, SF₄, and Xtalfluor®
- High-pressure and hazardous chemistry (up to ~100 bar)
- Vapour-phase and specialty chemistries
- Flow chemistry and continuous processing
Analytical Development Lab (ADL)
Purpose: Advanced analytical infrastructure supporting both development and commercial manufacturing through ppb-level detection, hazardous sample handling, and ICH-compliant stability assessment.
- NMR, GC, HPLC, UPLC, LC-MS, and GC-MS
- ICP-MS/OES and FTIR-MCT for trace-level and real-time analysis
- Ion chromatography for corrosive matrices including HF and HCl
- Cryogenic GC at -50°C and ICH-compliant stability chambers
Process Safety
Purpose: Embedded thermal risk measurement and process safety assessment from day one of development, generating plant-scalable data to ensure the safe development and scale-up of complex and hazardous chemistries.
Key capabilities:
- RSD for rapid hazard screening and go/no-go decisions
- Reaction Calorimeter (RC) for thermal load determination
- ARSST for worst-case runaway scenario simulation
- Zero process safety incidents during scale-up in the last five years
Technology & Design
Purpose: Structured industrialisation of laboratory processes, ensuring chemistry developed at bench scale can be reliably transferred, validated, and deployed at commercial manufacturing scale.
- Structured scale-up: Lab to Kilo Lab to Pilot to Commercial
- Process engineering validation covering heat and mass transfer, kinetics, and impurity profiles
- Technology transfer with complete documentation and on-site support
- Digital simulation tools including ASPEN, Minitab, and MATLAB/SCI-LAB
↑