WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., March 03, 2025 – A new high-tech startup, Crystallization Systems Technology Inc. (CrySyst), has been launched to provide advanced solutions for pharmaceutical and fine chemical companies. Founded by experts in process systems and operation, CrySyst aims to streamline the often complex processes used in these industries.
CrySyst’s ‘quality-by-control’ (QbC) framework focuses on crystallization monitoring, modeling, and control. This framework is based on research that has been published in the journals Crystal Growth & Design and Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.
Zoltán Nagy, the Arvind Varma Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University’s Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, and Botond Szilágyi, formerly a postdoctoral research associate at Purdue and now an associate professor at Budapest University of Technology and Economics, are the founders of CrySyst.
The Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization has licensed CrySyst to commercialize its proprietary technologies, CryMoCo and CrySiV. Nagy explained the most significant challenges in model-based process development frequently involve deciding which experiments are necessary, selecting the most appropriate model structures, and obtaining dependable model parameters.
“CrySyst’s tools directly address these pain points by providing guided experiment selection, offering a semiautomated framework for model development, and delivering reliable, high-confidence solutions,” Nagy said.
He emphasized that CrySiV and CrystMoCo offer a streamlined, systematic, and scientifically rigorous approach to crystallization development.
“These tools reduce time, material usage and risk while enhancing process robustness and scalability,” Nagy added.
CryMoCo is a vendor-independent crystallization process monitoring and control software that utilizes industry-standard communication protocols with process analytical technology tools alongside cutting-edge process control methods, including direct nucleation and supersaturation control approaches.
Nagy said that “This enables the rapid direct design of robust crystallization processes using our innovative QbC framework.”
CrySiV is a user-friendly, interactive population balance model-based crystallization simulator, enabling the digital design of crystallization processes. It includes kinetic parameter regression, process simulation, and visualization.
“CrySiV also includes process optimization features for both crystallization and integrated crystallization-wet milling processes, using state-of-the-art numerical methods for modeling and optimization,” Nagy explained.
Nagy highlighted the benefits, stating CryMoCo and CrySiV provide:
- An intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easier for industry professionals.
- State-of-the-art numerical solvers that ensure reliable, reproducible solutions and rigorous model validation.
- A structured workflow that guides users through the model selection and refinement process, minimizing computational uncertainties.
Nagy noted pharmaceutical and fine chemical companies face process development hurdles due to limited material availability, constraints on experimental resources, and the substantial time often needed for optimization through experiments.
“These challenges can be effectively addressed through model-based digital design and model-free direct design approaches, which have seen increasing adoption,” Nagy said. “However, to achieve widespread implementation, there is a critical need for systematic workflows and robust tools to support their integration into industrial practice. This is what CrySyst solutions address. We are committed to helping our clients develop and scale their process technologies faster, using less material. We offer specialized software products for model-free and model-based crystallization process design as well as consultancy and training services for problem-solving with our software tools.”
Nagy and Szilágyi received funding from the Enabling Technologies Consortium.
“The consortium included more than 10 of the largest pharmaceutical companies,” Nagy said. “We collaborated on a project with them for three years and, through close interaction with the crystallization scientists from the member companies, we developed the tools based on feedback we received to fit the needs of the industry.”
About Crystallization Systems Technology
Crystallization Systems Technology is dedicated to helping pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries accelerate the development and scaling up of their process technologies, using less material, by applying advanced crystallization monitoring, modeling, and control solutions. The company offers specialized software products for model-free and model-based crystallization process design, as well as consultancy and training services aimed at problem-solving with its software.
About Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization
The Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization manages one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. The office supports Purdue University’s economic development initiatives and its academic activities by commercializing, licensing, and protecting Purdue’s intellectual property. Fiscal year 2024 saw the office finalize 145 deals with 224 technologies signed, 466 invention disclosures received, and 290 U.S. and international patents granted. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University.
For more information, contact otcip@prf.org.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a public research university recognized for its excellence and scale. Ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue excels in knowledge discovery, dissemination, and application. With a focus on affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition for 13 consecutive years. More than 107,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 58,000 at the main campus in West Lafayette and Indianapolis.
