Rapid process development using oscillatory baffled mesoreactors – A state-of-the-art review

Abstract

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence Newcastle University ePrints -eprint.ncl.ac.uk McDonough JR, Phan AN, Harvey AP. Rapid process development using oscillatory baffled mesoreactors -A state-of-the-art review.

Oscillatory fluid motion unlocks plug flow operation in helical tube reactors at lower Reynolds numbers (Re ≤ 10)

“…Table 2 summarises the combinations of frequencies and amplitudes that could be tested. Nevertheless, these conditions are comparable to those widely applied in the similar meso-OBR platform [30], and as demonstrated in this paper, the optimum conditions for each reactor geometry existed within the range studied, showing there is minimal scope for studying oscillatory conditions outside of this range. Additionally, a set of control experiments were performed with no oscillatory motion to assess the impact of the oscillatory motion on the plug flow response.…”

“…[26]), water treatment using ozone [27], suspension polymerisation [28] and biolubricant synthesis [29]. These 'oscillatory baffled reactors' (OBRs) have also been scaled down to mL/hr throughputs for process development and reaction screening applications [30]. The oscillatory motion in these OBRs decouples the mixing intensity from the net flow rate, allowing substantially shorter length to diameter ratios to achieve a given mean residence time.…”

“…The hole included at the centre was to reduce the amount of resin required for the build. All designs in the present study used a 5 mm tube diameter, based on the mesoscale oscillatory baffled reactor (meso-OBR) [30]. This provided a set of benchmark data to assist in the understanding of the results.…”

“…The plug flow behaviour was assessed across a wide range of net flow rates and oscillation amplitudes and frequencies. In the similar meso-OBR platform, the net flow rate is characterised using the net flow Reynolds number, Ren, (equation 2) whilst the oscillation intensity is characterised using the oscillatory Reynolds number (equation 3) [30]. Here, ρ is the fluid density, D is the tube diameter, μ is the fluid viscosity, f is the oscillation frequency and xo is the oscillation amplitude.…”

Oscillating flow bioreactors: An enabling technology for sustainable biorefining operations?

“…Although OBRs have been researched for numerous applications over the past decades, their application for biobased operations has not been studied to the same extent . For biomass, OBRs have recently been researched for production of palm bio‐lubricant via trans‐esterification of palm methyl ester, bio‐butanol production and methylester (biodiesel) production, as well as for the intensification of cellulose hydrolysis .…”