Side-Loop Photoreactors
Side-Loop Photoreactors: Scalable Industrial Solutions from Lab to Production
In modern chemical manufacturing, transitioning from a laboratory experiment to an economically viable commercial scale is the ultimate engineering challenge. The efficiency of photoreactors is of great importance in order to economically implement commercial production. Therefore, photoreactors must be meticulously tuned to a particular chemical process to ensure maximum yield and minimal energy consumption.
At Peschl Ultraviolet, our side-loop photoreactor systems offer the most flexible path for scaling photochemical processes, allowing for precise control over radiation flux, heat transfer, and hydrodynamic behavior.
Overcoming the “Scale-Up Gap”: The Side-Loop Advantage
One of the primary obstacles in photochemistry is the Beer-Lambert Law, which dictates that light intensity decreases exponentially as it travels through a medium. In large batch vessels, this creates “dark zones” where no reaction occurs.
The side-loop photoreactor solves this by decoupling the reaction zone from the storage volume. By circulating the medium through a defined, narrow irradiation gap in an external loop, we ensure:
- Uniform Photon Flux: Every milliliter of the product receives the same light exposure.
- Enhanced Heat Transfer: The loop allows for independent cooling, which is vital for highly exothermic reactions.
- Seamless Retrofitting: Easily add photochemical capabilities to your existing stirred-tank reactors without major vessel modifications.
Side-Loop vs. Agitated Batch:
Which System Suits Your Process?
While our Agitated Batch Photoreactors are the preferred choice for high-solids slurries and processes requiring long residence times, the side-loop photoreactor is the better fit for: Continuous or Semi-Batch Operations: Ideal for high-throughput production. Retrofitting Existing Plants: When you need to add UV/LED capabilities to an established infrastructure.
Precise Thermal Control: When the reaction requires extreme temperature management (up to +200 °C or down to -50 °C) that a standard jacketed vessel cannot provide alone.
Modular, Safe & Ready for
Scalable Photochemistry
The high demand for equipment used in scale-up procedures, from laboratory to production scale, motivated Peschl Ultraviolet GmbH a to develop an industrial-scale photoreactor system engineered for a wide range of materials – including glass, stainless steel, special alloys, titanium, nickel alloys and other materials, depending on process requirements. These state-of-the-art systems enable the precise optimization of a variety of different process parameters under real-world conditions.
Our side-loop systems are designed with a “safety-first” philosophy. Photochemical reactions (homogeneous and (micro)heterogeneous) in extreme high and low temperature ranges may be carried out reliably. All immersion lamp systems are available for use in potentially explosive atmospheres and certified in accordance with the European standard (ATEX) as well as the North American standard (NEC 500).
Scalable Solutions: The Modular Journey
We recognize that process development is an iterative journey. Our modular ecosystem allows companies to transition seamlessly between scales using consistent hydrodynamic logic.
1. Laboratory-Scale Process Development (MPDS®)
This example shows a typical laboratory setup called MPDS® (Modular Photochemical Development System). The photoreactor is installed in a standard-compliant and mandatory protective housing (photonCABINET), ensuring operator UV protection. Next to the protective housing is the infrastructure for process development (controlCABINET), consisting of modular modules which can be selected and exchanged according to requirements. The process controller with touch display is located in the upper module, with the online spectrometer and the ballast for operating the radiation source below.
2. Pilot Scale Side-Loop Photoreactor
For larger volumes, our side-loop photoreactors can be equipped with a cooling jacket and thermal decoupling. A medium-pressure immersion lamp with thermal decoupling is operated in the photoreactor, which is suitable for highly exothermic reactions. For aggressive environments, the glass components in contact with the product are provided with a special coating on the inside to prevent glass corrosion during fluorine reactions.
3. Industrial Scale Side-Loop Photoreactor
Large-scale side-loop photoreactors for industrial mass production can be ordered with lamps with up to 60 kW input power and are also available for low-temperature reactions down to -50 °C. This ensures that even the most demanding mass-production requirements, such as the production of the anti-malaria drug artemisinin, are met with 24/7 reliability.
Technical Excellence: Key Features
Our reactors are not merely “vessels”; they are precision instruments engineered for performance:
- Modular toolbox system: Fast to configure and adapt.
- High molecule exchange: Optimized on the barrier surface for maximum reaction rates.
- Optimized residence time: Precise control within the irradiated reactor volume.
- Advanced Gassing: Optimized gas injection and distribution due to special gassing systems.
- Maximum pumping rates: High flow through the irradiated zones of the reactor.
- Light sources: Gas-discharge, Excimer and LED lamps available.
- Laminar and turbulent operation: Flexible flow regimes to suit your chemistry.
- Ex-proof design: All components approved for operation in potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX / NEC 500)
- Hydrodynamic optimization: Validated by Computational Flow Simulations (CFD).
- Process temperatures: -25 °C to +200 °C; special low-temperature versions available down to -50 °C.
- Special materials: Options for Titanium, ceramics, or special glass-lining for aggressive process conditions.
Typical Processes & Industrial Applications
Our systems excel in a wide variety of demanding applications across the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors:
- Vitamins: e.g., pre-Vitamin D2 or D3 and derivatives by electrocyclic reaction or Vitamin A by cis-trans isomerization.
- Active Pharmaceutical Intermediates (API): e.g., synthesis of antimalarial drug, singlet oxygen reaction.
- Fragrances: e.g., singlet oxygen reaction: Rose oxide.
- Agrochemicals: Plant treatment intermediates (e.g., pinacols by photo-hydrodimerisation).
- Chlorinated & Brominated Intermediates: e.g., dichloromethane, chloroform, tetrachloromethane, benzalchloride, benzylchloride, methylchloride, and substituted benzylbromides.
- Polymer Specialities: Photopolymerization and polymer functionalization (e.g., synthesis of API carriers, photo-halogenations, photooxidations).
- Specialty Chemicals: Lubricants (e.g., Fomblin) and intermediates for diagnostics (e.g., via photo-bromination or photo-iodination).
- Specialty Reactions: Fluorinations, Sulfoxidations, and Nitrosylations.
- Environmental Safety: Safety agents (e.g. odour additives for gases).
Why Partner with Peschl Ultraviolet?
When you choose our side-loop photoreactors, you are choosing a single-source solution backed by decades of expertise. Our services include:
- Engineering and supply of industrial-sized photochemical reactors.
- Seamless Scale-up/Scale-down from lab-size to industrial-size.
- Photochemical process consultancy and feasibility studies.
- Safety Engineering: Comprehensive HAZOP studies for safe operation.
- Commissioning support and on-site service to ensure uninterrupted production.
Ready to take your photochemical process to the industrial scale? Rely on our robust side-loop technology.
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