Business Challenge

A large petrochemical company commercialized its fuel and biofuel processes using continuous process technologies, but its R&D efforts were carried out with batch technologies, such as Schlenk tubes, microtiter plates, glass flasks, and small stirred tanks. The issue? Discontinuity between the lab research using batch technologies and the continuous processes in the plant.

AIC Technica Solutions

To rapidly commercialize processes, the company needed to instill a culture of continuous processing, from R&D to scale-up, and to remove the hurdle of having to translate batch processes into continuous processes. The company needed a continuous flow system for:

••Process Screening
••Process Development
••Rapid Scale-Up

The physical and chemical/biochemical parameters that the company wished to screen were:

•••Temperature
•••Pressure
•••Residence Time
•••Stoichiometry
•••Catalysts
•••Enzymes
•••pH

To further shorten R&D time, the company wanted an inline analytical detector so scientists could see the immediate effects of reaction conditions on the product stream. AIC Technica’s experience in continuous flow microreactors allowed the team to develop and validate a continuous flow microreactor system for fuel and biofuel process development and rapid scale-up for commercialization. The continuous flow technology gave a natural continuity between the research effort and the commercial operation. Additionally, the management of relative and absolute pump rates gave researchers control over both reactor residence time and the chemical/biochemical stoichiometry. The microreactors accurately operated between 30 to 250 C. Purification/extraction of the product stream was achieved with an optional aqueous stream for liquid extraction. An inline hydrophobic membrane separated the extraction phase from the products stream.

Finally, AIC Technica scientists integrated a mass spectrometer into the flow stream for qualification and quantification of the product stream. Our scientists validated the system by carrying out continuous biodiesel production from vegetable oil.

The microreactor environment acted as a high shear mixer and accelerated the mixing of triolein and methanol. This reduced the reaction time from 10s hours to seconds and minutes without the application of heat.

We were able to continuously extract glycerine from the biodiesel stream with an aqueous stream, and subsequently separate the immiscible aqueous phase from the biodiesel phase on the hydrophobic membrane. The inline mass spectrometer qualified and quantified the production of methyl ester from the triolein.

The system allowed both rapid process optimization and rapid scale-up. Additionally, it succeeded in creating a natural continuity between the lab research and the commercial plant operations.

AIC TECHNICA, a subsidiary of Applied Intellectual Capital (AIC) © 2008 | Privacy Policy