UK engineers launch modular chemical reactor

Runcorn, UK - AM Technology has launched the Coflore continuous chemical reactor system, which it claims, offers performance and cost benefits for research and manufacturing applications. The launch marks a siginficant move for the Runcorn-based company, which was formed in 2000 by chemical engineer Ashe and electrical instrument engineer David Morris as a process development company for the speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries.  

According to Ashe, Coflore multi-stage reactors are designed for different reaction types from very fast to very slow processes. The technology, he believes, "addresses many long-standing problems relating to ease of cleaning, mixing in slow reactions, pressured drop and blockage in fast reactions, and tolerance of multi-phase mixtures.”

The Runcorn-based technology company's launch product - the Coflore ACR - is aimed at slow and moderately slow reactions and employs a patented design to achieve efficient radial mixing with zero back mixing via a ‘cell-and-channel’ feature. The unit is being supplied as a compact desktop100ml agitated cell reactor (ACR) which is capable of handling reactions from 10 seconds to more than 100 hours.

Mechanical mixing is achieved without the need for agitator seals or shafts. Agitation is created by freely moving agitator elements within the reaction cells which move as the reactor block is vibrated. At the end of the reaction run, the system rotates to discharge the fluids without the need for buffer fluids. This allows the operator to retrieve 100% of the product without the use of purge fluids.

“The new reactors not only have good scale-up characteristics but they also have very high turndown capabilities. This permits the use of relatively large reactors during early scale development (where only very small quantities of product are required). This will reduce development costs and deliver quicker time to market for new products,” added Ashe.

The reactor has taken several years to develop and has undergone testing at Imperial College in London. The second element of the Coflore system is a fast reactor stage. Called the Coflore variable channel reactor, this unit is designed to offer a high cooling capacity with minimal pressure drop and a reduced propensity to block. Testing on the Coflore VCR is complete and this element of the system will be launched in September.

The Coflore project follows the development of a new batch reactor technology called Coflux. In  March, AM Technology signed a development agreement with Pfaudler to build glass-lined Coflux reactors. This comes on top of a licensing agreement with the Liverpool firm Powder Systems Ltd to use the Coflux technology in the development of its industrial products.