BETTER CONTROL OF BATCH REACTORS

A NEW HEAT-TRANSFER TECHNOLogy enables better control of temperature in continuously stirred tank reactors than is possible with existing methods. Known as constant flux or Coflux, the technology promises many benefits for the fine and specialty chemicals and pharmaceutical industries, including better yields and selectivities and reduced waste from processes involving complex chemistries. It is applicable to all scales of production, from the bench to industrial scale. It can also be used for process monitoring. The technology was developed and patented by Ashe Morris, a company based in Hertfordshire, England, that was founded in 2000 by chemical engineer Robert Ashe and electrical engineer David Morris. Batch reactors have been and continue to be the workhorses of the pharmaceutical and fine and specialty chemicals industries. For more than 100 years, cooling or heating of continuously stirred tank reactors has relied on regulating the temperature of heat-transfer fluid in the reactor's jacket by adjus...