Revolutionize your reactions
With a SpinChem® Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) you can eliminate slow reaction kinetics caused by poor mass transfer between your solution and solid phase. The SpinChem® RBR design is flexible and can be used for heterogeneous reactions with numerous types of solid phases, including immobilized enzymes, encapsulated cells and ion exchangers. Furthermore, it can be used for purification with metal scavengers, active carbon and water adsorbents. Utilizing the SpinChem® RBR typically results in faster processes, higher yields or reduced consumption of reagents, depending on the type of process. In addition, the SpinChem® RBR extends the lifetime of the solid phase particles by minimizing grinding and fines, while at the same time simplifying the solid phase collection and recycling. The SpinChem® RBR concept is fully scalable, from laboratory to production, thus providing more efficient reaction development and improved production economy.
The major advantages of RBR are short reaction time, simple to scale, long catalyst lifetime, easy to automate, no tedious filtrations and perfect for screening.
A clever concept
The SpinChem® Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) retains the solid phase as a packed bed inside the rotating cylinder. As the RBR spins, a continuously circulating flow develops. Reaction solution is rapidly aspirated from the bottom of the vessel, percolated through the solid phase and quickly returned to the vessel. By the intelligent design of the SpinChem® RBR and vessel, the axial mixing and convective transport are maximized. The resulting efficient mass transfer minimizes reaction time, and boosts product yields. This holds even for liquids that are immiscible or of different viscosity, as well as for reactions demanding distribution of dissolved gases.
Downstream processing
In our direct comparison of an ion exchange neutralization, the Spinchem® finished the reaction 30% faster than a traditional stirred tank reactor and left a completely clear solution. These enzymes are very versatile, facilitating the hydrolysis of lipids into fatty acids as well as the synthesis of esters and amides. Here an externally connected RBR can pump and process large liquid volumes by the convective flow created by the spinning RBR, using carbon or ion exchangers in downstream processing.
If the existing set-up makes it impractical to use the RBR in-tank for batch processing, SpinChem offers other solutions, such as flow systems, where the RBR is used in a separate vessel connected to the main tank. The SpinChem RBR can also be used in connected systems of reactor vessels, where the RBR is used in one or more of these vessels.
Simultaneous extraction of two dyes selectively onto different resins: A mixture of red and blue dyes with different chemical properties can be selectively extracted onto different adsorbents within the same run using an RBR. The dyes were separated based on ionic and hydrophobic interactions, respectively.
SpinChem’s fields of expertise include chemistry, engineering, experimental design, solid phase materials and fluid flow simulations. Through rapid in-house prototyping, testing, simulating, analysis and optimization, SpinChem is able to develop clever, custom-made solutions to fit your processes and applications.
Biocatalysis optimization
The most frequently employed group of biocatalysts is lipases. These enzymes are very versatile, facilitating the hydrolysis of lipids into fatty acids as well as the synthesis of esters and amides. Areas of lipase-catalyzed reactions include food processing, synthesis of fine chemicals and production of biofuel. The immobilization of the enzyme will allow for easier recycling, manipulation and separation of the enzyme, as well as an increase in its thermal and operational stability. The RBR ensures easy in-line monitoring of the process, as well as more efficient recycling of the solid phase particles, making the RBR a cost and time-efficient alternative to conventional methods for immobilized enzyme biocatalysis. Finally, we performed seven repeated reactions with successful enzyme recycling over a period of one month to simulate a production environment. Results varied less than two standard deviations and no loss of enzyme activity was observed. The lack of any filtration steps during enzyme recycling opens for the possibility of an automated semi-continuous process with an improved production economy.
Reactor engineering
One of the most difficult issues in heterogeneous reactions is achieving contact between the reagents in the two phases — a phenomenon known as mass transfer limitation. The reagents in the liquid phase must be brought to an active site in the solid phase through the transport of the liquid medium relative to the solid particle. In the absence of any stirring to create convective flow, this transport only takes the form of diffusion, which is a very slow process.
The RBR is a modern alternative to the traditional reactor types which leads to significantly greater reaction rates in mass transport limited cases. Since the solid phase is contained within the RBR it may also be regenerated or reused in situ for another reaction step without any time-consuming filtration in between.
