Nuclear engineering

Physics

Flow chemistry

Organic chemistry

Process engineering

Reactor design

Mathematics

Reagent

Wireless

Slurry

Operating system

Statistics

Engineering

Catalysis

Throughput

Composite material

Continuous reactor

Biochemical engineering

Chemistry

Geotechnical engineering

Materials science

Monte Carlo method

Residence time (fluid dynamics)

SCALE-UP

Scale (ratio)

Computer science

Quantum mechanics

Process (computing)

Continuous flow

Chemical engineering

Classical mechanics

Telecommunications

Frontiers in Chemical Engineering

Despite their widespread use in the chemical industries, hydrogenation reactions remain challenging. Indeed, the nature of reagents and catalysts induce intrinsic safety challenges, in addition to demanding process development involving a 3-phase system. Here, to address common issues, we describe a successful process intensification study using a meso-scale flow reactor applied to a hydrogenation reaction of ethyl cinnamate at kilo lab scale with heterogeneous catalysis. This method relies on the continuous pumping of a catalyst slurry, delivering fresh catalyst through a structured flow reactor in a continuous fashion and a throughput up to 54.7 g/h, complete conversion and yields up to 99%. This article describes the screening of equipment, reactions conditions and uses statistical analysis methods (Monte Carlo/DoE) to improve the system further and to draw conclusions on the key influential parameters (temperature and residence time).

Continuous Hydrogenation: Triphasic System Optimization at Kilo Lab Scale Using a Slurry Solution