A methodology, which does not require any kinetic information, for the rigorous transformation of an isothermal, homogeneous semi-batch process into an equivalent continuous side-fed tubular reactor was developed. Once the semi-batch process parameters are known, the proposed methodology allows for easily defining all the process parameters of a side-fed tubular reactor that guarantees the same performances as the original semi-batch process, in terms of conversion and product characteristics. Two different case studies were selected to investigate the potential of the proposed approach: a copolymer synthesis and the production of a fine chemical, clearly showing the need of a rigorous transformation of the semi-batch process into the continuous one since productivity and product quality are strongly affected by the feeding policy.

Plug flow behavior in tubular reactors is often highly desirable in industry, since it can ensure high productivity, good selectivity, and enhanced heat transfer. To achieve this, good radial mixing combined with poor axial mixing is required: these conditions are quite easy to obtain if the flow regime is turbulent, but they are much more challenging to achieve if the flow is laminar. In this work radial mixing and residence time distributions in a side-injected tubular reactor equipped with a series of Sulzer SMX static mixers were investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics. It was found that even at low values of Reynolds number the reactor can efficiently satisfy the plug flow conditions, and operative diagrams were determined to foresee the reactor behavior.

Batch and continuous reactors both enable exploration of a chemical design space. The former rely on transient experiments, thus experiencing a wide variety of operating conditions over time, whereas the...

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