Scalable Oscillating Flow-Photoreactors

From laboratory to tailor-made industrial production

The HANU Flow-Photoreactor series is built on the proprietary COSTA™ technology. This patented technology for continuous operation stands out from all known designs and functions by its unique technology and allows to implement flow-photochemistry from the early discovery phase (ml scale) and seamlessly scale it throughout the process development stage up to commercial production of several metric tons per annum. The reactor design allows a single-technology scale-up strategy, and the low pressure drop makes high-throughput operations feasible. With this technology, production scale flow-photochemistry is now commercially available.

Technology Advantages

  • Linear scale-up from ml-scale to commercial production
  • Adjustable residence time with high mass transfer
  • Turbulent flow regime via superimposed pulsation
  • Able to process slurries and highly viscous products
  • Broad operating temperature range (-20°C … +80°C)
  • Broad operating pressure range (FV … +25 bar g)
  • CIP, cGMP and PED compliance, PAT analysis available
  • Dimmable and exchangeable light sources with different
    wavelength from 365 nm up to 625 nm

Static mixing elements enforce a split and recombine flow pattern of the process stream, while a superimposed pulse allows to dramatically improve and regulate the turbulence and consequently mass- and heat-transfer. As this pulsating flow pattern technology decouples the hydrodynamics from the net flow rate, an intense mixing at all flow rates can be achieved. Consequently, the irradiation time can be prolonged without recirculation or very long process channels (ΔP!). In addition, the plug-flow behaviour is astoundingly enhanced, ensuring a narrow residence time distribution. The resulting intense film refreshing, and large specific irradiated area guarantees an efficient photon use and the complicated hydrodynamic task to process slurries in microfluidic systems without clogging (e.g. for photocatalytic reactions) has been succeeded. This is a true game-changer within the field of flow-photochemistry.

The application of through-window non-invasive spectroscopic analysis makes the reactor particularly useful for process development and integration in cGMP processes. At any point of the process channel, the composition of the chemical matrix and kinetic data can be monitored via PAT methods such as Raman- and NIR-spectroscopy. For instance, the point where 100% conversion is reached can be easily detected to adapt the flow rate to optimize the reactor performance.

Lab-size
Flow photoreactor

Our oscillating flow photoreactor is part of the MPDS®BASIC system, designed for feasibility studies and photochemical screening.

It consists of a plate-shaped flow photoreactor with integrated heat exchanger, the oscillating flow photoreactor with a volume of 5 ml and selectable inlays, a pulsator and an integrated light module novaLIGHT HLED 25 with a power of 25 Watt. The light module is dimmable and is available with different wavelength which can be easily exchanged.

Pilot size

The 2X 15 version of the oscillating flow photoreactor is part of MPDS®EVO system, designed for process development to collect all relevant data for successful scale-up.
It consists of a plate-shaped flow photoreactor, the 2X 15 version with a volume of 15 ml and selectable inlays, a pulsator module, flow- and back-pressure modules, flow sensor (Coriolis) and temperature sensors, a data logger, and an integrated light module novaLIGHT HLED 100 with a power of 100 Watt. The light module is dimmable and is available with different wavelength which can be easily exchanged. This setup can already be used for commercial production whenever small volumes are required.

Industrial size

The oscillation flow photoreactor HX 150 is a commercial scale flow-photoreactor with a volume of 150 ml, designed for commercial production.
The light source is be adapted to the photon-flux required for efficient production based on the results of the Process Development phase and is designed specifically for the aimed chemistry upon request.

In addition, Peschl offers fully operational skids including ATEX certificate and all related accessories for having a mobile production plant which can be connected to a wide range of other flow-modules.

Features

Scalable UV & VIS Photochemistry

  • Large transparent window (borosilicate or quartz)
  • Excellent film resfreshment for optimal irradiance
  • Single-technology scale-up strategy up to multi-ton/year production

Demanding Conti-flow Processes

  • Hydrodynamics independent of net flow rate
  • Enabling long residence time reactions (via one-pass operation with no need for recirculation)
  • Performant for multi-phase reactions (e.g. slurries)
  • Multi-purpose Solution for cGMP manufacturing
  • Reactor is compliant with PED 2014/68/EU
  • ATEX certification available upon request

Assembled Unit Modularity

  • Maximum reactor flexibility via interchangeable process inlays
  • Available in different reactor material, internal volume, shape & size of static mixing elements, etc.
  • “open-shell” system allows straightforward cleaning and swap sampling (during cleaning validation cycles)

Typical applications

Conti-flow synthesis

Micro-emulsion polymerisation

Virus inactivation

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