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Utilizing the Spinning Tube in a Tube® Reactor in Flow Chemistry

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On July 31, 2018 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:

  1. STT® Discovery
  2. Patented Technology
  3. Research
  4. Application

A detailed explanation of the calculation of Reynolds number in piping systems and then rotating systems were also discussed.

The chart below maps key rotating flow regimes—including Couette flow and Taylor-Vortex flow—inside the Zaiput Spinning Tube in a Tube Reactor® (STT®). By plotting the outer cylinder’s Reynolds number against the inner cylinder’s Reynolds number, the graph illustrates the dynamics of two independently rotating cylinders. Because the outer cylinder remains stationary, its Reynolds number on the X-axis is zero. Our primary focus centers on the specific operating regimes highlighted inside the red box.

 

Spinning Tube in a Tube®

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

The STT® Technology is owned by Bright Path Laboratories.

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

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