On July 31, 2018 our CEO, Mr. Rocky Costello, P.E., gave a presentation titled “Utilizing the Spinning Tube in a Tube® Reactor in Flow Chemistry” at the Annual Congress on Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology conference in Amsterdam. The subjects that Mr. Costello discussed include the following four topics:
- STT® Discovery
- Patented Technology
- Research
- Application
A detailed explanation of the calculation of Reynolds number in piping systems and then rotating systems were also discussed.
The chart below shows various rotating flow regimes such as Couette flow and Taylor- Vortex flow inside the Spinning Tube in a Tube Reactor®, or STT®. It is essentially a graph of Reynolds number calculated with respect to the outer cylinder versus Reynolds number calculated with respect to the inner cylinder. The flow regimes for two (2) independently rotating cylinders is shown. Since the outer cylinder is not rotating the Reynolds number on the “X” axis is zero. The area of concern is the flow regimes inside the red box.
In a YouTube video, the STT® with a glass stator demonstrates the transition from high Reynold number, turbulent flow and Taylor Rings to low Reynold number, laminar flow and Couette flow. It also demonstrates how simplified Clean-In-Place is accomplished with the STT®.
Spinning Tube in a Tube®
Comsol Computational Fluid Dynamics was used to model experimental runs of the Ritter reaction performed on the STT® at the EPA.
Tertiary butyl alcohol reacted with benzonitrile to create N-tert-butylbenzamide.
So why model the Spinning Tube in a Tube® System?
- Enhanced experimental design
- Reduced R&D costs for product development
- Knowledge to explain STT performance to potential industrial users
The full presentation can be downloaded here: Utilizing the Spinning Tube in a Tube® Reactor in Flow Chemistry
References
1. Flow regimes in a circular Couette system with independently rotating cylinders By C. DAVID ANDERECKT, S. S. LIUS AND HARRY L. SWINNEY Department of Physics, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 (Received 20th December 1984 and in revised form 8th September 1985)
2. Kinetics of Transesterification of Soybean Oil, H. Noureddini and D. Zhu, Department of Chemical
Engineering, University of Nebraska, JAOCS, Vol 74, no. 11 (1997)
3. S. Cerbelli et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 63 (2008) 4396-4411