Cellular Process Chemistry, Inc.

Other

Acclavis, LLC

Volker Autze

Sebastian Oberbeck

Klaus Golbig

Thomas Schwalbe

Kemal Hünkar Sahin

Peter Born

Ansgar Kursawe

Klaus Poelderl

Christian Drescher

Thomas Jochen Schwalbe

The invention related to a microreactor system for the continuous synthesis, which provides defined reaction chambers and conditions for said synthesis, as well as to the uses of said microreactor in carrying out a chemical reaction. According to said invention, (a) said mircoreactor system () is of modular design, (b) a processing unit () is made up of processing modules which are connected to each other by frictional engagement and (c) the fluid connections in said processing unit () can be obtained by the frictional connection of said processing modules.

Microreactor system

A parallel chemical production system producing a desired product by operating a plurality of reactors in parallel. The fluidic properties of each of the reactors are identical to the properties of a test reactor employed to determine conditions for producing the product, to facilitate scaling up production. In one embodiment, the production system is configured such that at least one reactor is always offline for cleaning, servicing, and use as a backup. If sensors detect less than optimal conditions in any reactor, the reactor is taken offline and serviced, while a previously designated backup reactor is placed online to maintain continuous production. Another aspect involves arranging the reactors in a concentric configuration to facilitate equal fluid distribution.

Scalable continuous production system

A stacked plate chemical reactor in which simple plates are stacked together to form the reactor. When openings in adjacent plates are properly aligned, fluid pathways and processing volumes are defined for chemical reactants, heat transfer medium, and a product. In one embodiment of the invention, an n-fold internal array is achieved by providing a first group of simple plates defining a reaction unit that includes bypass fluid channels and reaction fluid channels for each reactant, such that a portion of each reactant is directed to subsequent groups of simple plates defining additional reaction units. A chemical reactor with variable output is obtained in a preferred embodiment by reversibly joining reactor stacks comprising irreversibly joined reaction units, these reaction units consisting of a plurality of simple plates. Other embodiments employ at least one of an array of parallel fluid channels having different widths, bifurcated fluid distribution channels to achieve a substantially even flow equipartition for fluids with varying viscosities flowing within the fluid channels of each reaction unit.

Enhancing fluid flow in a stacked plate microreactor

A reaction system enables a plurality of optimization experiments for a reaction to be performed continuously, to enable optimal reaction parameters to be determined. Dilution pumps are included to automatically vary the solvent mixed with reactants so a concentration of each reactant can be selectively varied. The reactants are introduced into a reaction module selectively coupled to residence time chambers or directly to an analytical unit. The analytical unit determines the yield and/or quality for each optimization experiment, enabling optimal parameters to be determined. Residence time chambers can be employed sequentially to enable total residence time to be varied. The controller performs as many experiments as required to enable each parameter to be varied according to a predefined testing program and can redefine a testing program based on the results from previous experiments. At least two reaction parameters can be varied according to periodic functions to further enhance analytical efficiency.

System and method for determining optimal reaction parameters using continuously running process

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Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Volker Autze