Miniaturized reaction apparatus

US6537506B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Cellular Process Chemistry, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Thomas Schwalbe · Bad Vilbel, DE
• Klaus Golbig · Maintal, DE
• Michael Hohmann · Leipzig, DE
• Petra Georg · Frankfurt, DE
• Andreas Oberbeck · Wiesbaden, DE
• Bernd Dittmann · Pocking, DE
• Jiri Stastna · Eschborn, DE
• Sebastian Oberbeck · Greifenstein, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 3, 2000
• Grant date: Mar 25, 2003
• Expiry date: Feb 3, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC F): Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating
• CPC primary: F28F2260/02
• WIPO field: Chemical engineering
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A stacked plate chemical reactor in which simple plates, each incorporating no surface features other that an opening, are stacked together. When openings in adjacent plates are properly aligned, a fluid pathway is defined between inlet ports for each chemical reactant and an outlet port for a chemical product. In one embodiment of the invention, sixteen simple plates are stacked to provide a reactor incorporating three heat transfer fluid pathways, two reactant fluid pathways, one product fluid pathway, multiple mixing chambers, multiple reaction chambers, two reactant pretreatment heat exchangers, two reaction chamber heat exchangers, and multiple temperature sensor pathways. Precise dimensional control of the reactant fluid pathway height enables stacked laminar flow paths for the reactants to be achieved, allowing efficient and rapid diffusion mixing to occur. Because the simple plates incorporate no features other than openings, fabrication of such plates is easily achieved. Different reactor designs, having additional reactant pathways, more or fewer heat transfer fluid pathways, more or fewer heat exchangers, more or fewer mixing chambers, more of fewer reaction chambers, an…