Reactors

Spinning Disc Reactor

 Reactor Design Issues

• 1 Reaction Kinetics
• 2 RTD
• 3 Mass Transfer
• 4 Heat Transfer
 Introduction
• Recently, the spinning disk reactor (SDR) was
brought forward as an alternative to
traditional stirred tank processing technology
claiming to offer distinct advantages with
respect to mixing characteristics, heat transfer,
and residence time distribution.
• Most pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals are
manufactured in stirred vessels which are
simply scaled-up versions of the beaker.
 Introduction
• Unfortunately, the heat mass-transfer and mixing
characteristics of a stirred vessel deteriorate
rapidly at larger sizes because the surface-to-
volume ratio decreases and the circulation time of
contents increases while the corresponding
mixing intensity decreases at constant impeller tip
speed.
• Thus, large vessels will tend to impede reactions
which may be intrinsically fast and highly
exothermic.
 Introduction
• In case of fast reaction kinetics, the fluid residence times
on an SDR are in the range of 1-5 s compared with a few
hours in a stirred vessel. Hence, reactions with half-lives
in the 0.1-1 s range may be expected to be completed on
the disk.
• Noting the qualitative equivalence of mixing intensity
and fluid shear stress, the SDR is capable of generating a
far higher mixing intensity than a stirred vessel and
should therefore be capable of maintaining uniform
concentration profiles within a rapidly reacting fluid.
• Thus, better control should be exerted over the reaction
trajectory than that achieved in a conventional stirred
tank.
Spinning Disc reactor
 Operating Principle
• The spinning disk is a horizontally oriented plate that can
be heated or cooled and rotated via an air motor at
speeds up to 5000 rpm. Liquid feed streams, supplied to a
well in the center of the plate, travel rapidly across the
surface and form a thin film with thickness ä.
• Liquid leaves the disk at its edge after which it can be
collected. The SDR is capable of subjecting this film to very
high shear stress, ô, promoting very high heat-transfer
rates between the film and the disk and high mass-
transfer rates between the liquid streams or between the
film and the gas in the surrounding atmosphere.
 Operating Principle
• The flow of the liquid film as it moves from the
center of the disk to the periphery is
intrinsically unstable and extremely complex.
• It is assumed that the film is laminar and
circumferentially uniform and stable, with the
local film thickness being determined by a
“Nusselt” approach, modified to take account
of the varying radial acceleration.
 Operating Principle
• The two main factors of interest in this investigation
were mixing intensity and the liquid residence time,
tres , as they had a dominant influence on the degree
of conversion, X, on the disk (for chemical reactions)
and the particle size, dp (for crystallizations)
• A qualitative measure of the mixing efficiency in the
liquid film can be obtained by calculation of the shear
stress, which is imposed on the liquid film by the
rotational force as it moves over the disk surface. The
higher the shear stress, the more efficient the mixing.
 Operating Principle

• This indicates that as might be expected the

mixing characteristics on the disk improve
with increasing spin speed.
 Operating Principle

• Above equation shows that the residence time on the disk

is inversely proportional to the angular velocity. it is evident
that increased mixing efficiency (i.e., high shear stress) can
only be realized at very short contact times, which has
important consequences for reactions limited by mass
transfer. To observe effective conversion on the SDR, a high
degree of conversion has
to be achieved in reaction times shorter than 0.5 s
 Materials and Method
• S.S.Disc or brass
• Different surface textures (smooth, counter
clockwise spiral groove, or PTFE-coated)
• Heat-transfer fluid from an external, heated or
cooled reservoir (-20 to 180 °C) was pumped into the
hollow disk assembly through a narrow channel
(channel width 1 mm) directly beneath the disk to
achieve the required disk operating
temperature .The fluid then entered a collector,
which drained back into the external heat exchanger.
 Materials and Method
• Rotation of the disk up to 5000 rpm was achieved by
use of an air motor.
Materials were fed onto the disk by two variable
flow pumps, both peristaltic type and positive
displacement Micro pumps being used.
The reactor allowed a maximum throughput of 4.5
mL/s. Processed material left the reactor via two
outlet drain pipes and could be sampled at two
points immediately after exiting the SDR. The output
was then collected in a cooled tank reservoir.
 Materials and Method
• Vapor formation was controlled by a
condenser, which could either be arranged to
collect condensate separately or be returned
to the SDR as required. Any reactor off-gas
was contacted in a suitable scrubber before
release to the environment. Reactions were
usually carried out under a nitrogen
atmosphere.
 Applications
• The SDR is capable of generating a far higher mixing
intensity than a stirred vessel and should therefore be
capable of maintaining uniform concentration profiles
within a rapidly reacting fluid.
• Thus, better control should be exerted over the reaction
trajectory than that achieved in a conventional stirred tank.
Bearing in mind the pharmaceutical industry’s drive to
shorten development times, it is apparent that the SDR,
with its high potential productive capacity may allow the
laboratory scale to be the full scale and hence avoid the
inevitable delays in authenticating various levels of scale-up.
 Applications
• In addition, the small reactor holdup (<100 mL) and
the excellent fluid temperature control make the
SDR particularly suited for highly hazardous
reactions.
• The most important application of the SDR relates to
the manufacture of polymers. The key processes
involved are:
• 1. Condensation reactions
• 2. Radical reactions
• 3. Devolatilisation
Taylor-Couette Reactor
 Introduction
• Sometimes referred to as a vortex flow reactor,
consists of two concentric cylinders, one of which
rotates. This type of flow is called Couette flow
after Maurice Marie Alfred Couette, who used this
experimental device as a means to measure viscosity.
• Taylor showed that when the angular velocity of the
inner cylinder is increased above a certain threshold,
Couette flow becomes unstable and a secondary
steady state characterized by axisymmetric toroidal
vortices, known as Taylor vortex flow, emerges.
 Introduction
• The standard TCR consists of a cylindrical shell in which a
rotating inner cylinder is inserted so that an annular gap is
formed. Various flow regimes can be formed in the annular
gap, resulting in significantly different flow conditions and
shapes.
• The mixing conditions in a Taylor Couette reactor can be set
nearly independently from the axial flow by changing the
rotational speed of the cylinders as well as the geometry of
the reactor itself. The flow regime can hence be tailored
specifically to the demand of the process—from mixing and
dispersing due to high shear forces to high flow segregation
resulting in a plug-flow behavior.
 Introduction
• Ta = Recyl = ω ri d / ν
• Reax = uax d / ν
• The most important phenomena are the
attainable flow regimes, for which the
characteristic number used is the Taylor number
Ta, also referred to as the cylinder Reynolds
number Recyl. In general, it relates centrifugal to
the viscous forces, meaning that growing values
correspond to higher levels of turbulence
 Introduction
• The flow regimes in the annular gap vary with
ω and can be characterized in terms of
turbulence and the type and shape of the
forming vortices.
• At low Ta, a laminar flow regime (Couette
flow) is formed, where the fluid is partly
dragged through the cylinder walls.
 Introduction
• When ω is increased, impartial to whether the
flow is superimposed by an axial flow, a
centrifugal instability sets in that initiates the
formation of toroidal vortices and the flow
transforms into the Taylor-vortex flow. This
flow regime, also referred to as the Taylor-
Couette flow, is characterized by symmetrical
counter-rotating toroidal vortices.
Toroidal vortices in TCR
Transition of flow with increasing Ta
 Design of TCR
• The standard TCR consists of a cylindrical shell
where an inner cylinder is inserted to form an
annular gap. While either the cylinder can be
rotated with the angular velocity ω or cylinder and
shell can be counter- or co-rotated, in most
applications in process technology, the shell is
fixed.
• The design parameters includes diameter of the
inner cylinder di, inner (do) and outer diameter (D)
of the shell and reactor height (H).
 Design of TCR
• When designing a TCR, the numerical value of
the critical Taylor numbers is of interest. Tac1 is
commonly approximated by Equation,

• Λ = di/do
• Γ =H/d
• d = (do−di) /2
 Applications
• Homogeneously catalyzed reactions
• Photocatalysis and light induced applications
• Enzymatic transformations and biotechnology
• Polymer synthesis
• Crystallization and solid processing
• Aggregation and flocculation of fines