This blog post was originally published as a white paper on the website of Fowid:
https://www.flowid.nl/08-2/
The SpinPro reactor has recently been used on-site. Goal of this project was to experimentally determine the performance of the SpinPro reactor for a multiphase reaction between a gas and two liquid phases, one aqueous and one oil. The rate-limiting step in this process was believed to lie in the mass transfer steps; an ideal opportunity to put the SpinPro reactor to the test.
Previous findings have already shown that, the gas-liquid mass transfer in the SpinPro reactor is around forty times higher than values found in traditional reactors. Expectations were thus that under these intensified process conditions, the SpinPro reactor with its reduced volume would outperform the current bulky batch reactor, while still maintaining satisfactory production levels and product quality.
Reducing the gas phase was of particular importance, as the gas phase in the current process consists of Hydrogen Sulphide, a toxic gas, which is introduced at an increased pressure. Next to the process intensification, the very small size of the SpinPro would inherently lead to a more safe process than the traditional one.
The SpinPro Reactor performed outstandingly and could significantly increase productivity, as a mere residence time of several minutes could already lead to the same production capacity as the current batch process which needs to run for many hours. The most remarkable conclusion, however, was the fact that the SpinPro Reactor not only increased mass transfer rates, but it could completely negate the need for Hydrogen Sulphide in the process altogether.
Once again, the SpinPro Reactor has proven its added value, as a high-tech piece of process equipment, leading to safer, more efficient and more flexible productions.