Projects
For successful implementation of flow chemistry a certain expertise and knowhow is essential. Flowid experts are dedicated in developing, optimising and engineering continuous flow solutions.
Examples
Movie 1: colour reaction in a standard batch reaction
Movie 2: same colour reaction in a continuous flow reactor
Movie 3: by changing reactor settings, the conversion can be controlled completely:
Either the end product (yellow) or the intermediate (red) can be obtained.
Movie 2: same colour reaction in a continuous flow reactor
Movie 3: by changing reactor settings, the conversion can be controlled completely:
Either the end product (yellow) or the intermediate (red) can be obtained.
Public References
Different companies had benefit by adopting Flowid’s services in their development process.
- Solterra Renewable Technologies Inc.
- Ambuja Intermediates India
- Eindhoven University of Technology
- Micronit & FutureChemistry
References are found below.
Solterra Renewable Technologies Inc.
Solterra Renewable Technologies Inc. is the first company to introduce a new dimension of cost reduction by replacing silicon wafer based solar cells with low cost highly efficient Quantum Dot based solar cells.
Solterra has asked Flowid and FutureChemistry to cooperate in a project for combining their knowledge and technology into a newly developed production plant.
Flowid and FutureChemistry will develop a method for manufacturing quantum dots in continuous flow on a laboratory scale, subsequently design, develop and install an operational plant for manufacturing quantum dots in continuous flow on a production scale.
Steve Squires, Chief Executive Officer of Solterra, commented, “We are very pleased with this collaboration and are eagerly looking forward to fruitful efforts with both FutureChemistry and Flowid. Their leading edge work essentially allows the Company to overcome barriers to entry of high volume, high tech markets. The imminent ability to sell stand alone quantum dots in large quantities at attractive pricing into various markets, while continuing to develop breakthrough solar cell technology, undoubtedly will generate significant revenue for Solterra, Quantum Materials Corporation and its shareholders.” www.solterrasolarcells.com
Steve Squires, Chief Executive Officer of Solterra, commented, “We are very pleased with this collaboration and are eagerly looking forward to fruitful efforts with both FutureChemistry and Flowid. Their leading edge work essentially allows the Company to overcome barriers to entry of high volume, high tech markets. The imminent ability to sell stand alone quantum dots in large quantities at attractive pricing into various markets, while continuing to develop breakthrough solar cell technology, undoubtedly will generate significant revenue for Solterra, Quantum Materials Corporation and its shareholders.” www.solterrasolarcells.com
Ambuja Intermediates India
For Ambuja India, Flowid investigated and calculated the costs and benefits to produce one of their chemical products using flow chemistry. For this sulfonation type of reaction, flow chemistry will circumvent the formation of undesired isomers.
A quote from Mr. Shah, the managing director of Ambuja India, “This is a unique & promising technology which needs academic support to scale up for mass commercial scale operations. It can prove to be a boon for reducing pollution output.”
Ambuja manufactures and exports organic dyes, pigment intermediates, speciality chemicals, custom synthesis, agro chemicals and herbal products. www.ambujaindia.com
A quote from Mr. Shah, the managing director of Ambuja India, “This is a unique & promising technology which needs academic support to scale up for mass commercial scale operations. It can prove to be a boon for reducing pollution output.”
Ambuja manufactures and exports organic dyes, pigment intermediates, speciality chemicals, custom synthesis, agro chemicals and herbal products. www.ambujaindia.com
Eindhoven University of Technology
As part of a research project, Flowid collaborated with the TU/e, to perform a process intensification study of flow chemistry with a Phase Transfer Catalyzed (PTC) type of reaction to produce benzyl benzoate. These PTC- type of reactions can benefit significantly of flow chemistry because fine emulsions can be made with a high degree of controllability.
This study shows that the production rate per day is increased 3 times in a continuous system based on a micro structured reactor compared to a batch reactor. Furthermore, it is shown that the yield of the reaction can be raised up to 87%, 2.5 times larger compared to batch.
.jpg)
Due to the continuous nature of the process and the micro dimensions of the reactor internals, hardly any operational costs are required while product consistency is improved and reaction parameters can precisely controlled.
The department of Chemical Reactor Engineering of the TU/e performs high-quality scientific and technological research in the chemical reactor engineering sciences with specific emphasis on the design, development and operation of microfluidic processing systems, microstructured reactors, and structured multiphase reactors. www.tue.nl
This study shows that the production rate per day is increased 3 times in a continuous system based on a micro structured reactor compared to a batch reactor. Furthermore, it is shown that the yield of the reaction can be raised up to 87%, 2.5 times larger compared to batch.
Due to the continuous nature of the process and the micro dimensions of the reactor internals, hardly any operational costs are required while product consistency is improved and reaction parameters can precisely controlled.
The department of Chemical Reactor Engineering of the TU/e performs high-quality scientific and technological research in the chemical reactor engineering sciences with specific emphasis on the design, development and operation of microfluidic processing systems, microstructured reactors, and structured multiphase reactors. www.tue.nl
Micronit & FutureChemistry
Flowid, FutureChemistry and Micronit Microfluidics, have shown the fast scalability and applicability of microreactors in a case study for flow chemistry. For the case study, the Paal-Knorr reaction was used as a model reaction. This reaction is moderately exothermic, posing a problem for conventional industrial scale manufacturing, while flow chemistry is known to be advantageous for such processes due to high heat transfer capabilities.
The Paal-Knorr reaction was translated from conventional batch processing into continuous flow chemistry without any major issues. The kinetic parameters reaction time and reagent ratio were controlled by flow rates. These reaction parameters, together with temperature, were then screened to find optimal conditions. An automated platform integrating microliter-scale reactors, pumps, temperature control and sampling was used to perform the optimisation study.
After optimisation and data interpretation, small preparative runs in a larger microreactor were performed. While maintaining a sufficiently large surface to volume ratio, the lateral dimensions of the reactors were enlarged to 1-2 mm. Mixing due to diffusion is not sufficient anymore at these scales, and therefore continuous mixing is established by the integration of split-and-recombine mixers over the total length of the channel. The small preparative runs resulted in correct validations and confirmed high yields of up to 98% at optimal settings. Finally, the optimised and validated reaction parameters were applied to a larger, multi-stacked microreactor. A production rate of 55 g per hour could be reached with this device.
Major benefits of the flow chemistry route vs. conventional batch chemistry include availability of exothermic reactions in a safe and easy way, fast development time (approximately 120 man hours in this case) and low reagent consumption.
Back to Products
The Paal-Knorr reaction was translated from conventional batch processing into continuous flow chemistry without any major issues. The kinetic parameters reaction time and reagent ratio were controlled by flow rates. These reaction parameters, together with temperature, were then screened to find optimal conditions. An automated platform integrating microliter-scale reactors, pumps, temperature control and sampling was used to perform the optimisation study.
After optimisation and data interpretation, small preparative runs in a larger microreactor were performed. While maintaining a sufficiently large surface to volume ratio, the lateral dimensions of the reactors were enlarged to 1-2 mm. Mixing due to diffusion is not sufficient anymore at these scales, and therefore continuous mixing is established by the integration of split-and-recombine mixers over the total length of the channel. The small preparative runs resulted in correct validations and confirmed high yields of up to 98% at optimal settings. Finally, the optimised and validated reaction parameters were applied to a larger, multi-stacked microreactor. A production rate of 55 g per hour could be reached with this device.
Major benefits of the flow chemistry route vs. conventional batch chemistry include availability of exothermic reactions in a safe and easy way, fast development time (approximately 120 man hours in this case) and low reagent consumption.
Back to Products