Solids Handling in Flow – Advances in Multi-Tonne Production
Mike Kenny, Business Development Manager, AM Technology, United Kingdom

Heterogenous catalysis is highly relevant within the production of pharmaceutical APIs and fine chemicals. With the growing drive to transition the chemical manufacturing industry towards more environmentally friendly continuous manufacture in flow, there is a requirement to be able to perform existing heterogenous reactions in flow reactors.                         

Solids handling in flow has presented a significant challenge across all scales of production, with the tendency of particulates to bridge or block flow reactor channels being a major barrier to the widespread adoption of flow at production-scale. Solids handling issues can be mitigated through immobilisation of solids on porous supports, or through tuning solvents and concentrations to avoid solid precipitation. However, for many industrially significant chemical processes, such mitigation methods are often too inefficient or limiting. Dilution or other solvent alterations can negatively impact reaction kinetics and reduce productivity, while precipitation may be required to achieve a favourable reaction equilibrium. Immobilisation can be a useful method for heterogeneous catalytic reactions, but the semi-continuous nature can limit throughput and efficiency when compared to a continuous feed of free-flowing slurry.

When developing a flow process with slurries, particles that bridge generate a lower limit of channel size, and particles that settle favour a turbulent flow regime. Turbulent flow can be achieved through high fluid velocities, often aided by static mixers, or mechanical mixing. Multiphasic reactions are often relatively slow due to the inherent mass transfer limitations, limiting the applicability of static mixing or high fluid velocities. Therefore, to maintain the desired turbulent flow regime at a wide range of reaction times, mechanical mixing is favoured. Here, we outline recent advances in developing a range of multiphasic flow reactions with scale up to production.

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