New flow reactor shows dramatic improvements

Runcorn, UK - AM Technology, based in Runcorn, has announced the recent completion of the first live chemistry trials on its Coflore agitated cell reactor (ACR) at Imperial College in London. The results, said AMT, showed dramatic improvements for the ACR in terms of both flexibility and reduced pressure drop when compared to a static mixer reactor.

According to the process development company,  the third and fourth Bourne reactions were used for the experiments at Imerial College. Being mixing sensitive reactions, these are good test methods for flow reactors, AMT explained.

AMT developed the flow reactor to be flexible and capable of handling problem fluids at low throughputs. The patented Coflore unit is designed for throughputs of 5 to 5000 grams per hour. By using dynamic mixing and multiple reaction cells, the ACR can maintain good plug flow and efficient mixing independently of throughput. The use of cells as opposed to narrow channels also improves the reactor’s tolerance to solids.

Founded in 2000, AMT owns the intellectual property for Coflux technology. Coflux batch reactors use variable area cooling jackets which are not only more energy efficient but also improve the reactor’s monitoring and control capabilities. AM Technology have recently collaborated with Pfaudler Balfour in Germany to build the first full scale glass lined Coflux reactor. This machine will be on display at Achema in May.

The company started developing flow reactors 3 years ago, mainly to address scale-up problems. AMT has been testing two new designs of flow reactor for several years and the ACR is the first to be launched. This is a competitively priced general purpose reactor for lab and pilot scale use. A second reactor, the Variable Channel reactor, will be launched within the next 12 months. This is a high cooling flux reactor for scale up of strong exotherms.

Flow chemistry offers the prospect of safer, faster and more efficient synthesis steps for many chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing operations. Process development however can be an obstacle to the adoption of such methods. Ironically, the problem often has more to do with scale down than scale up.

Users need reactors that offer flexibility and tolerance to difficult process media - viscous fluids, slurries etc - but which operate at low throughputs. Without this, the cost of process development in terms of raw material usage, can be prohibitive.