Electrochemical Oscillatory Baffled Reactors Fabricated with Additive Manufacturing for Efficient Continuous-Flow Oxidations

Abstract

Electrochemical continuous-flow reactors offer a great opportunity for enhanced and sustainable chemical syntheses. Here, we present a novel application of electrochemical continuous-flow oscillatory baffled reactors (ECOBRs) that combines advanced mixing features with electrochemical transformations to enable efficient electrochemical oxidations under continuous flow at a millimeter distance between electrodes. Different additive manufacturing techniques have been employed to rapidly fabricate reactors. The electrochemical oxidation of NADH, a very sensitive substrate key for the regeneration of enzymes in biocatalytic transformations, has been employed as a benchmark reaction. The oscillatory conditions improved bulk mixing, facilitating the contact of reagents to electrodes. Under oscillatory conditions, the ECOBR demonstrated improved performance in the electrochemical oxidation of NADH, which is attributed to improved mass transfer associated with the oscillatory regime.

Towards highly efficient continuous-flow catalytic carbon dioxide cycloadditions with additively manufactured reactors

“…Further optimization of the ink formulation would lead to an improved higher printing resolution, which will allow the development of more intricate reactor geometries, which coupled with CFD simulations will render a powerful tool for digital reactor design. 67 However, these results are the stepping-stone in the development of methodologies bringing together the molecular efficiency, related to the presence of the IL units, and the reactor design for the flow process. Besides, the increase in catalytic performance leads to a reduction in waste, since higher yields can be achieved with a smaller amount of the catalyst.…”

Recent Developments in Process Digitalisation for Advanced Nanomaterial Syntheses

“…This would serve as an alternative to the packed bed reactors used in the industry, trading operational difficulties due to the intrinsic randomness of particle‐based beds, like pressure drop, flow maldistribution or non‐uniformity of the available catalytic surface, with a more reliable control over reactor parameters that can be digitally validated before initial experiments [20b] . In this way, 3D printing enables the evolution from simple straight tubular or random packed reactors to more complex systems, including baffled reactors (Figure 2A–B), coiled tube featuring periodic inserts (Figure 2C–E) and other advanced geometries (Figure 2E) [17a,22] …”

“…B) CFD analysis of a 3D printable oscillatory baffled reactor showing improved mixing under oscillatory conditions. Adapted from Ref [22]. under CC BY 4.0.…”