Continuous-flow microreactor technology has been embraced by researchers in academia and industry due to its excellent transport properties and the increased safety and control over challenging chemical transformations. Despite its popularity, scaling the benefits associated with the microenvironment has proven to be a daunting challenge. This review provides an up-to-date overview concerning the different scale-up approaches of micro/milli-reactors, including numbering up (both internal and external), sizing up (increasing length, geometry similarity and constant pressure drop strategies) and a combination of numbering up and sizing up. The strategies, design principles and applications of each approach have been discussed in detail. Each scale-up approach has its merits and limitations. However, scale-up factors, that are required in the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industry, are within reach when different scale-up approaches are combined.

Scale-up of micro- and milli-reactors : An overview of strategies, design principles and applications

https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/preview/2629792/Irfan%20Fuel-Paper-AAM-Accepted%203%20Sept%202019.pdf

Assessment of biomass energy potential for SRC willow woodchips in a pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier

In this communication, it was evaluated the production of fatty acid ethyl ester (FAAE) from the free fatty acids of babassu oil catalyzed by lipase from Rhizomucor miehei (RML) immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) coated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), Fe3O4@APTES-RML or RML-MNP for short. MNPs were prepared by co-precipitation coated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and used as a support to immobilize RML (immobilization yield: 94.7 ± 1.0%; biocatalyst activity: 341.3 ± 1.2 U p-NPB/g), which were also activated with glutaraldehyde and then used to immobilize RML (immobilization yield: 91.9 ± 0.2%; biocatalyst activity: 199.6 ± 3.5 U p-NPB/g). RML-MNP was characterized by X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD), Fourier Transform-Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), proving the incorporation and immobilization of RML on the APTES matrix. In addition, the immobilized biocatalyst presented at 60°C a half-life 16-19 times greater than that of the soluble lipase in the pH range 5-10. RML and RML-MNP showed higher activity at pH 7; the immobilized enzyme was more active than the free enzyme in the pH range (5-10) analyzed. For the production of fatty acid ethyl ester, under optimal conditions [40°C, 6 h, 1:1 (FFAs/alcohol)] determined by the Taguchi method, it was possible to obtain conversion of 81.7 ± 0.7% using 5% of RML-MNP.

/pdf/lipase-from-rhizomucor-miehei-immobilized-on-magnetic-28hzlsgvxs.pdf

Lipase From Rhizomucor miehei Immobilized on Magnetic Nanoparticles: Performance in Fatty Acid Ethyl Ester (FAEE) Optimized Production by the Taguchi Method.

Biomass as a renewable and abundantly available carbon source is a promising alternative to fossil resources for the production of chemicals and fuels. The development of biobased chemistry, along with catalyst design, has received much research attention over recent years. However, dedicated reactor concepts for the conversion of biomass and its derivatives are a relatively new research field. Continuous flow microreactors are a promising tool for process intensification, especially for reactions in multiphase systems. In this work, the potential of microreactors for the catalytic conversion of biomass derivatives to value‐added chemicals and fuels is critically reviewed. Emphases are laid on the biphasic synthesis of furans from sugars, oxidation and hydrogenation of biomass derivatives. Microreactor processing has been shown capable of improving the efficiency of many biobased reactions, due to the transport intensification and a fine control over the process. Microreactors are expected to contribute in accelerating the technological development of biomass conversion and have a promising potential for industrial application in this area.

/pdf/catalytic-transformation-of-biomass-derivatives-to-value-3sk9i8aos9.pdf

Catalytic Transformation of Biomass Derivatives to Value-Added Chemicals and Fuels in Continuous Flow Microreactors

The discovery of alternative fuels that can replace conventional fuels has become the goal of many scientific researches. Biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils through a transesterification reaction that converts triglycerides into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), with the use of a low molecular weight alcohol, in different reaction conditions and with different types of catalysts. Titanium dioxide has shown a high potential as heterogeneous catalyst due to high surface area, strong metal support interaction, chemical stability, and acid–base property. This review focused on TiO2 as heterogeneous catalyst and its potential applications in the continuous flow production of biodiesel. Furthermore, the use of micro reactors, able to make possible chemical transformations not feasible with traditional techniques, will enable a reduction of production costs and a greater environmental protection.

Titanium Dioxide as a Catalyst in Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel production in micro-reactors: A review

This work was focused on finding the groundnut shell (GNS) gasification performance in a fluidized bed gasifier with bubbling air as gasification medium. GNS in powder form (a mixture of different particle size as given in table 8 in the article) was gasified using naturally available river sand as bed material, top of the bed feeding, conventional charcoal as bed heating medium, and two cyclones for proper cleaning and cooling the product gas. Experiments were performed using different operating conditions such as equivalence ratio (ER) between 0.29 and 0.33, bed temperature between 650°C and 800°C, and feedstock feeding rate between 36 and 31.7 kg/h. Different parameters were evaluated to study the gasifier performance such as gas yield, cold gas efficiency, carbon conversion efficiency (CCE), and high heating value. The most suitable ER value was found to be 0.31, giving the most stable bed temperature profile at 714.4°C with 5-10% fluctuation. Cold gas efficiency and CCE at optimal ER of 0.31 was found to be 71.8% and 91%, respectively.

V.M. Rajesh

Papers

Biodiesel production in micro-reactors: A review

Groundnut shell gasification performance in a fluidized bed gasifier with bubbling air as gasification medium

Experimental characterization of gas-liquid flows in splitting distributor for parallel micro-channels