Case Study: Perceptive Engineering

Perceptive Engineering discusses a two year collaborative R&D project it undertook to address challenges associated with the new generation of reactor systems used in production…

A new generation of continuous small-scale reactors that will enable manufacturers of high-value, low volume products to move away from traditional batch processes, has recently come onto the market.

These micro reactors can be used in parallel, to achieve production scale-up without the associated chemical engineering problems. The major benefit of these reactors is the flexibility they offer, i.e., the ability to manufacture a number of products using a single reactor by rapidly adjusting the operating conditions, with little waste material generated during the transition.

Typical benefits of such systems include a waste reduction of 10-15%, energy reduction of 40-70% and solvent process inventory that can be as low as 10% of volume in an equivalent batch process.

Currently these reactors require high levels of manual intervention, to identify suitable operating conditions and adjust the process as needed to maintain final product quality. This can be challenging; the design of the reactors, and the ancillary equipment they require, often result in complex system interactions.