Corning® Advanced-Flow™ reactor technology for process intensification

Abstract

The concept of process intensification has been around for at least a decade in chemical process engineering. Conventional "batch" synthesis, with mixing and reactions done in bulky meter-scale vessels, often generates by-products and suffers from energy and material waste. Also, safety could become a concern when high-energy processes or highly toxic reagents are involved. As one of its key aspects, process intensification considers development of new equipment allowing substantially smaller, cleaner, safer and more energy-efficient and scalable methods for industrial-scale production of pharmaceutical and specialty chemical products. These needs can be addressed through the continuous-flow technology of Corning's Advanced-Flow™ glass reactors, which consist of modules with millimeter-scale channels that allow optimization of thermal and interfacial mass transfer for reducing overall heat and mass transfer resistances. This paper will describe Corning® Advanced-Flow™ reactor technology and several application cases in which these reactors demonstrated their high potential for industrial deployment and process intensification due to their ability to increase the efficiency, scalability, and quality of chemical processing - all while reducing environmental impact, performance variability and cost. © 2012 WIT Press.