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Pilot testing a reaction process, alone or as part of a multi-step process
is often a vital part of design a commercial scale plant. Even with
available reaction kinetics, there is additional information that can be
gathered from testing.
KMPS has experience in the following types of reaction studies:
- Homogeneous Batch/Semi-Batch Reactions
- Homogeneous Continuous Reactions (Plug Flow)
- Reactive Distillation - Homogeneous
- Reactive Distillation - Heterogeneous
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Homogeneous Batch/Semi-batch Reactions |
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Homogeneous batch/semi-batch are the most common reaction type. They can
be as simple as adding measured quantities of two or more reactants to a
vessel and mixing. Heat is normally removed or added through a jacket,
heating mantle or external heat exchanger. Often they require constant
removal of a product via distillation in order for the reaction to
progress. |
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Homogeneous Continuous Reactions (Plug Flow) |
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Homogeneous continuous reactions are typically plug-flow. The liquid
reactants are mixed together continuously and residence time in the
reactor is very short. This style is very useful for fast reactions
where high throughput is essential. A reactor for this service could be
as simple as a piping loop, with or without an in-line mixer.
It could
also be an agitated extraction column such as Scheibel or Karr column.
Miscible or non-miscible reactants are fed to the bottom of the column,
flow up through the agitated zone and exit at the top of the column.
Heating or cooling jackets are used to control the reaction temperature.
In one application, a Karr Column reactor has replaced a series of
CSTR’s and is providing higher yield and higher purity. |
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Reactive Distillation - Homogeneous |
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Homogeneous reactive distillations make use of the good mixing and heat
transfer inside a distillation column. The residence time can be
adjusted and the rate of reaction can be enhanced by constant removal,
via distillation of the resulting products. Typically tray columns are
used for homogeneous reactive distillation. Two unit operations,
reaction and distillation are performed in the same piece of equipment,
which can be a considerable cost savings. |
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Reactive Distillation - Heterogeneous |
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Heterogeneous reactive distillations are performed in distillation columns
that have three sections. The reactor section is the middle section
where a special packing Katamax is used which contains a solid catalyst.
The liquid phase reaction takes place as the liquid film passes across
the surface of the packing / catalyst. Above and below the reaction
section is a rectifying and stripping section of traditional packing.
Once again, two unit operations, reaction and distillation are performed
in the same piece of equipment, which can be a considerable cost
savings. |
