Design and Evaluation of a Mesoscale Segmented Flow Reactor (KRAIC)

© 2016 American Chemical Society. The design and development of a mesoscale flow reactor is presented, together with initial performance evaluation. The custom-designed KRAIC (kinetically regulated automated input crystallizer) uses liquid-segmented flow to achieve plug flow and mixing throughout the reactor length while helping prevent encrustation issues experienced by other precipitation reactors and crystallizers. Evaluation of the reactor for production of solid-state particle products has been carried out using cooling crystallization of fast growing succinic acid to explore the potential of the KRAIC design to mediate blocking caused during the precipitation process. The segmented flow environment is successful in preventing encrustation during an unseeded 2 h cooling crystallization experiment.