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chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Chemical Engineering Research and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cherd

Review

Rotating reactors A review

F. Visscher, J. van der Schaaf, T.A. Nijhuis, J.C. Schouten


Laboratory of Chemical Reactor Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology,
P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands

a b s t r a c t

This review-perspective paper describes the current state-of-the-art in the eld of rotating reactors. The paper has a
focus on rotating reactor technology with applications at lab scale, pilot scale and industrial scale. Rotating reactors
are classied and discussed according to their geometry: stirred tanks, tubes, discs and miscellaneous reactors.
Their operating characteristics, industrial applications, and their main advantages and disadvantages are discussed
including power requirements, residence time distribution, reactor volume, gasliquid mass transfer rate, and the
micromixing time. Finally, the barriers for further industrial implementations are discussed.
2013 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Reactor; Development; Gravity; Multiphase; Intensication

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1924
1.1. Reactor selection criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1924
1.2. Reactor classication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925
2. Rotating reactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925
2.1. Stirred tanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925
2.1.1. Rushton stirrer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927
2.1.2. Gas-inducing stirrer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927
2.1.3. Monolithic stirrer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1928
2.1.4. Foam based stirrer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1928
2.2. High shear rotating tubes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929
2.2.1. Rotating packed bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929
2.2.2. Rotating zigzag bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929
2.2.3. Rotating uidized bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930
2.2.4. TaylorCouette reactor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931
2.2.5. Spinning tube-in-tube reactor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931
2.3. Low shear rotating tubes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931
2.3.1. Rotating tube reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931
2.3.2. Rotating tubular membrane reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1932
2.3.3. Rotating annular chromatographic reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1932
2.3.4. Rotating sorbent reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1932


Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 40 247 2850.
E-mail address: J.C.Schouten@tue.nl (J.C. Schouten).
URL: http://www.chem.tue.nl/scr (J.C. Schouten).
Received 15 April 2013; Received in revised form 19 July 2013; Accepted 22 July 2013
0263-8762/$ see front matter 2013 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2013.07.021
1924 chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940

2.4. Low shear rotating disc reactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1932


2.5. High shear rotating disc reactor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1933
2.5.1. Thin-lm spinning disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1933
2.5.2. Rotorstator spinning disc reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1933
2.6. Remaining reactor types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934
2.6.1. Shockwave power reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934
2.6.2. RAPTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934
2.6.3. Dynamically rotating axis micro reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934
2.6.4. Coore agitated cell reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935
2.6.5. Rotating cone reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935
2.6.6. Rotating membrane reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935
3. Summary and outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1936

rotating reactors, for example through the application of thin-


List of symbols lm spinning disc reactors with a high heat transfer coefcient
(Aoune and Ramshaw, 1999; Zhang et al., 2010). Alternative
AL surface area (m2 m3 ) methods to achieve the said intensication are the integra-
DI impeller diameter (m) tion of reaction and separation in one unit, the switch from
dR inner diameter () batch to continuous operated reactors and the application of
E power consumption (W m3 ) microreactor technology. Microreactors allow for the reduc-
N maximum rotation speed (RPM) tion of byproduct formation and the increase of gasliquid
Q volumetric throughput (m3 h1 ) and liquidliquid mass transfer rates (Hessel et al., 2009;
 residence time Hessel, 2009). The main challenge for further implementation
tm micromixing time (s) of this technology is the scale-up of the volumetric through-
U overall heat transfer coefcient (W m2 K1 ) put, which can only be achieved by increasing the pressure
V reactor volume (m3 ) drop over the microchannel or by parallel feeding of multiple
channels (Al-Rawashdeh et al., 2012; Kashid et al., 2010).
This review-perspective paper classies rotating reactors
and describes the current state-of-the-art in the eld of
1. Introduction rotating reactors which are applied on lab scale, pilot scale,
and industrial scale. In this review a chemical reactor is
Mechanical agitation is applied to chemical reactors on pilot
dened as any device which is used to conduct a chemical
scale and on industrial scale with the aim to increase the mix-
reaction, more specically, in which at least one molecu-
ing efciency (Hemrajani and Tatterson, 2004). As a result, the
lar compound is transformed into another predetermined
reactor volume can be decreased by a factor 10100, which
chemical compound (Trambouze and Euzen, 2002b). The
is an urgent need in chemical industry; this need is com-
discussed rotating reactors are applied for either single-phase
monly addressed as process intensication (Stankiewicz and
systems (liquid or gas) or multi-phase systems (gasliquid,
Moulijn, 2000). Ramshaw and co-workers were the rst pio-
gassolid, gasliquidsolid, liquidsolid, or liquidliquid
neers who envisioned that understanding the length and time
mixtures).
scales relevant in plant design will lead to process intensica-
The reactor selection is narrowed down further by discard-
tion (Reay et al., 2008). The relevant length and time scales
ing reactors which are only used for the experimental determi-
include the integral path of plant, reactor, uid dynamics, cat-
nation of physical properties, and by discarding reactors solely
alyst and molecular level (Charpentier and McKenna, 2004;
used for the testing of catalytic properties or reaction kinetics
Lerou and Ng, 1996).
(Doraiswamy and Tajbl, 1974; Dudukovic et al., 2002; Kapteijn
The reactor volume reduction that originates from the
and Moulijn, 2008; Pavko et al., 1981; Weekman, 1974). Exam-
application of mechanical agitation yields a potential cost ben-
ples of these reactors are the Berty Stationary Catalyst Basket
et that acts as a driving force for the development of rotating
(Berty, 1974), the MahoneyRobinson Spinning Catalyst Basket
reactors, especially in research dealing with the ne chemical
reactor (Mahoney, 1974), and the Carberry Spinning Catalyst
and pharmaceutical industry (Anderson, 2012; Chaudhari and
Basket reactor (Carberry, 1964). These reactors are discarded
Mills, 2011). With a lower equipment volume the holdup of liq-
because they are not developed with the aim of industrial
uids, gases and solids in the reactor is smaller, which reduces
implementation. Reactors in which mechanical energy is dis-
the impact of potential escalation of dangerous situations.
sipated without the usage of rotation are also discarded (e.g.
Additionally, the volume reduction allows for the application
the oscillatory bafed reactors, (Harvey et al., 2001), static mix-
of expensive coating materials in the reactor, like platinum
ers, (Meijer et al., 2012), and reactors in which cavitation is
and tantalum.
ultrasonically induced cavitation, (Rooze et al., 2013)).
Mechanical agitation is the most common method that
is applied in order to enhance mixing in industrial reactors.
For this purpose a rotating element is added to the reactor 1.1. Reactor selection criteria
with the purpose to increase the gasliquid, liquidliquid, and
liquidsolid mass transfer rates as well as the heat transfer Reactor selection is a challenging task in which multiple
rate. As a result conversion and selectivity can be increased aspects need to be taken into account (Krishna and Sie, 1994).
and the occurrence of hot-spots is prevented. Process Reactors are developed dedicated to their application which
intensication has been illustrated through the application of can be the synthesis of nanoparticles (Dahl et al., 2007; Ng
chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940 1925

et al., 2012; Pask et al., 2012; Tai et al., 2007), exothermic


reactions (Ogura et al., 2008), electrochemical reactions
(Rivero et al., 2010), micromixing characteristics (Assirelli
et al., 2002; Baldyga and Pohorecki, 1995; Bourne and Studer,
1992; Chu et al., 2007; Jiao et al., 2012; Rousseaux et al., 2001;
Zhao et al., 2010), and others. Reactions can also be combined
with separation steps in reactive separators (Stankiewicz,
2003). Specic aspects that cannot be neglected when reactors
are compared, are the volumetric throughput, reactor volume,
residence time distribution, effective catalyst loading, mass
transfer rates, and pressure and temperature limitations of
the reactor (Cybulski and Moulijn, 2005; Froment et al., 2011;
Trambouze and Euzen, 2002b).
Rotating reactors contain one or more rotating elements
which may have various designs: impellers, tubes, or discs.
The geometry of the rotating element and the rotational
speed determine the power required for mechanical agi-
Fig. 2 The development of rotating reactors is
tation. Energy dissipation in chemical reactors is given in
schematically shown as a function of time. The year in
W kg1 3
PRODUCT or W mLIQUID (Baldyga and Pohorecki, 1995; which the rst scientic publication (peer-reviewed or
Villermaux, 1988). The mixing intensity is mainly determined
patent) is published is used as allocation in time.
by the local energy dissipation and not by the power consump-
tion of the auxiliary equipment (Laufhtte and Mersmann,
1987; Mukherjee and Wrenn, 2009). For mechanically agitated 2. Rotating reactors
reactors the energy consumption by the motor that propels
the rotating element is dominant over the energy consumed 2.1. Stirred tanks
by pumps. The compressor duty signicantly contributes to
the total power consumption in the case of gasliquid reactors. Agricola (1556) illustrated in his book De Re Metallica
(On the Nature of Metals, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De re
metallica) how stirring reactors were used in the mining
1.2. Reactor classication industry (Stankiewicz and Moulijn, 2000). Earlier references
to vessels equipped with a stirrer date back to 77 A.D. where
In this review, rst the development of rotating reactors over Pliny the Elder describes the leaching of metals and the puri-
time is presented. Next the specic benets and disadvantages cation of sulfur (Pliny the Elder, 1929). The volume of industrial
of various rotating reactors are given. In this review rotating used stirred tank reactors ranges from 2 103 to 3 102 m3 .
reactors are classied by four different groups according to The reactors are either batch wise, semi-batch or continuously
their characteristic geometry: tanks, tubes, discs and miscel- operated (Trambouze and Euzen, 2002a).
laneous rotating reactors (Fig. 1). The most basic form of a stirred tank reactor consists of
The development of various rotating reactors in time is a cylindrical tank with elliptical bottom, with one or more
schematically shown in Fig. 2. In Fig. 2 the year in which stirrers mounted on a central shaft. With increasing tank
the rst scientic or technical publication (peer-reviewed or diameter, stirred tanks often exhibit poor mixing which is
patent) was published is used as allocation in time. A table especially true for multiphase reactions in which the non-
with the relevant literature of each reactor is given in Table 1. uniformity in mixing and mass transfer leads to signicant
The majority of rotating reactors has been developed after variance in reaction rate and selectivity (Sthl Wernersson
1980. Exact sales information is not available, but most of the and Trgrdh, 1999; Stitt, 2002). Some of the stirrers are
reactors developed since 1980 have not yet permanently pen- shown schematically in Fig. 3 (Hemrajani and Tatterson, 2004;
etrated the commercial market of industrial processes except Joshi et al., 1982). Both the power consumption in stirred
for niche applications. tanks (Ascanio et al., 2004; Villermaux, 1988), and the various

Fig. 1 Classication of rotating reactors based on the geometry.


1926
chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940
Table 1 Rotating reactor comparison. Typical values are given of the volumetric throughput (Q [m3 h1 ]), reactor volume (V [m3 ]), residence time (), power consumption (E
[W m3 ]), maximum rotation speed (N [RPM]), gasliquid mass transfer rate (GLMT [s1 ]), overall heat transfer coefcient (U [W m2 K1 ]), and micromixing time (tm [s]).
Reactor Phase Q V  E N GLMT U tm Relevant reference
3 3 2 1
Rushton stirrer GLS 10 to 10 1
10 to 10 2
1 min5 h 1 104
1500 0.012 103
10 to 10 Foust et al. (1944)
Gas-inducing stirrer GLS 103 to 101 103 to 102 1 min5 h 1 104 1500 0.012 103 Arbiter and Harris (1962)
Monolithic stirrer GL 103 1100 min 2 103 800 0.8 103 Albers et al. (1998)
Solid foam stirrer GLS 102 103 1 s10 min 6 103 600 0.2 103 Tschentscher et al. (2010a)
Rot. packed bed GLS 102 103 1 s10 min 5 104 2500 12 105 104 Pilo (1960)
Rot. zigzag bed GL 104 101 1 s10 min 3 104 1400 12 Ji et al. (2008)
Rot. uidized bed GS 103 1 s10 min 500 103 Kroger et al. (1980)
TaylorCouette ow GL 106 106 1 s10 min 3 104 1000 0.1 103 to 101 Pudjiono and Tavare (1993)
Spinning tube-in-tube GL 107 106 to 103 1 s3 min 12,000 104 Hampton et al. (2008)
Rot. tube GL 105 104 115 min 870 102 Lodha and Jachuck (2007)
Rot. tub. mem. GL 103 102 1 s10 min 1 103 30 Cowen et al. (1982)
Rot. ann. chrom. GLS 106 102 1 s60 min 20 Sarmidi and Barker (1993a)
Thin lm SDR GLS 103 to 102 103 1 s10 min 5 103 5000 6 104 102 to 101 Buhtz (1927) and Boodhoo and
Al-Hengari (2012)
Rotorstator SDR GLS 103 to 101 104 to 102 1 s10 min 5 106 4500 2 105 104 to 102 Meeuwse et al. (2010b)
Shockwave power GL 101 to 101 3600 5.2 104 Mancosky (2013)
RAPTOR GL 105 to 103 103 10 s10 min 3 106 1500 104 Barillon et al. (2007)
Dyn. rot. axis micro GL 107 106 1s 3600 Ogura et al. (2008)
Coore agitated cell GL 105 105 1 s10 min Jones et al. (2012)
chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940 1927

Fig. 3 Different liquid ow direction for various stirrers. Stirrer A shows the ow prole generated by a radial ow impeller
(Rushton stirrer), Stirrer B for a three blade propeller (Aiba, 1958). Stirrer C for an axial ow turbine in which liquid is
progressively sucked in (axial downwards) near the center and is forced radially outwards. An extensive list of different
stirrers is presented by Hemrajani and Tatterson (2004) and Joshi et al. (1982).

techniques to visualize the liquid ow behavior have been equal to DI /4, the blade width is equal to DI /5. The disc diam-
elaborated already earlier in a review (Mavros, 2001). eters equals either 0.66DI or 0.75DI , in which DI is the impeller
The catalyst in a stirred tank can be either dispersed diameter (Hemrajani and Tatterson, 2004). The gasliquid ow
as a slurry (with a particle diameter below 1 103 m) or behavior in a Rushton stirred tank was studied using Laser-
as a homogenous catalyst. The most important drawbacks Doppler Anemometry (Wu et al., 1989) and Particle Image
of a heterogeneously dispersed catalyst are the separation Velocimetry (Hill et al., 2000). The power characteristics of
of the catalyst from the reaction mixture, and the attrition Rushton stirrer are related to physical properties of the liquid
and agglomeration of the catalyst particles. Heat transfer to mixture and the geometry of the tank itself (Rushton et al.,
or from stirred tank reactors can be obtained by jacketing 1950a,b).
the stirred tank or by using internal coils. Usage of struc-
tures inside the reactor allows for higher heat transfer rates,
2.1.2. Gas-inducing stirrer
but increases also the risk of fouling, the non-uniformity of
Often the per pass conversion of the gas phase is low when
mixing intensity, and the time required for reactor clean-
gasliquid mass contacting is performed in a stirred tank, in
ing (Kumaresan and Joshi, 2006). Various methods can be
that case it is benecial to recycle the unreacted gas-phase
exploited in order to improve the mixing capability in stirred
back into the reactor. Dead end systems are than a solution in
tanks.
which expensive compression costs can be reduced: in these
The application of vertical wall bafes mounted to the reac-
systems the remaining gas phase is forced into the free reac-
tor wall is well known (Lu et al., 1997). A second method to
tor volume from where it is recycled internally into the liquid
enhance mixing capability in the stirred tank reactor is by
mixture. A gas-inducing impeller enables efcient recycling
applying a more sophisticated stirrer design, which can be cat-
of gas from the free reactor volume into the liquid-mixture.
egorized according to the induced direction of ow: up/down
The critical impeller speed that is required for the start of gas
draft (discs, plates), radial (at blade impeller, Rushton stirrer),
induction follows from a balance between the velocity head
axial (propeller, pitched blade turbine), or vortex (Kumaresan
generated by the impeller and the hydrostatic head above the
and Joshi, 2006; Stitt, 2002).
impeller (Patwardhan and Joshi, 1998). Guidelines have been
Stirrer geometries can be, but are not limited to, pro-
given about the desired geometry of gas-inducing impellers
pellers, turbines, anchors, or Archimedes screws (Hemrajani
for achieving different design objectives such as heat transfer,
and Tatterson, 2004). An extensive recent review on typical
mass transfer, mixing, solid suspension and froth otation.
impeller characteristics which are essential for further com-
Non-intrusive electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) has
parison of various impellers is given elsewhere and addresses
been used to study the dispersed phase hold up, mixing times,
the relevance of the power number, the ow number, the
and reaction metrics in a continuously operated stirred tank
momentum number, and the Zwietering constant (Machado
that was equipped with a gas-inducing stirrer (Bawadi et al.,
et al., 2012). Multiple stirrers on a single rotating shaft are
2011). Application of a gas-inducing stirrer in a stirred tank
needed when the aspect ratio, the ratio of the stirrer diameter
gives an increase in the productivity (Bawadi et al., 2011). The
over the tank diameter, exceeds 1.5. A last method to enhance
inuence of the stirrer diameter, the aspect ratio, the stirrer
mixing in stirred tanks is the application and improvement
submergence from the liquid level, and the clearance between
of a gas-distributing inlet, which will enhance the interfacial
the stirrer and the tank bottom has been presented elsewhere
area and the gasliquid mass transfer rate in the stirred tank.
(Saravanan et al., 1994).
Four different stirrers are described in more detail here: Rush-
The gasliquid mass transfer rate in stirred tanks that are
ton stirrer, gas inducing stirrer, monolithic stirrer and the solid
equipped with gas-inducing impellers was measured, and can
foam stirrer.
be described by a dimensionless correlation which contains
the Froude number (gas-induction rate), the Reynolds number
2.1.1. Rushton stirrer (turbulence intensity), and the Schmidt number (uid prop-
The Rushton stirrer was developed around 1940 (Foust et al., erties) (Zieverink et al., 2006). The separation of the reaction
1944), and is a radial ow generating stirrer, which is equipped mixture and the catalyst particles at the outlet of a stirred tank
with six vertical (at or curved) blades which are mounted is often troublesome; there is therefore a tendency to immo-
on a disc (Fig. 4). For the standard stirrer the blade length is bilize the catalyst on the stirrer. In early attempts a lab-scale
1928 chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940

Fig. 4 The top view and the side view of a Rushton stirrer (left) and a side view of a monolithic stirred tank reactor (right).

rotating basket was mounted in the reactor, such that kinet- yields a high surface to volume ratio. As a result non-rotating
ics could be measured without the presence of external mass foam packed columns exhibit a low pressure drop and high
transfer limitation in the gas phase (Carberry, 1964). gasliquid mass transfer rates (Stemmet et al., 2005, 2006). Due
to the high surface area it is an excellent material for the depo-
2.1.3. Monolithic stirrer sition of catalysts (Ordomsky et al., 2012a,b; Wenmakers et al.,
Mounting monolithic blocks on the stirrer shaft can be an 2008, 2010).
attractive alternative for stirred tanks with dispersed cata- The rotating foam stirrer reactor yields higher gasliquid
lyst particles (Fig. 4). Most monoliths consist of one piece of and liquidsolid mass transfer rates than stirred tanks
ceramic material; within this piece a large number of parallel equipped with a Rushton stirrers or slurry bubble columns
channels is present which extends over the entire length of the (Tschentscher et al., 2010a,b). Various foam structures have
block. The concept of a monolithic stirrer was demonstrated been applied including donuts, two-blades, and blocks (Leon
in 1998 for liquid mixtures with a low viscosity (Albers et al., et al., 2012a). Rotating foam stirrer reactors have promising
1998). Because the catalyst is immobilized in the monolith applications for multiphase processes (Leon et al., 2012b).
there is no need for liquidsolid separation at the reactor out- Mounting multiple foam blocks on a single horizontal shaft
let. Another advantage is the open structure of the monolithic with bafes in between the consecutive foam blocks, yields
block which results in a large geometrical area. The inside of plug ow behavior in this reactor, and accordingly a higher
the monolithic channels can be coated with a thin layer of selectivity toward the desired product in selective reactions
either a conventional catalyst (Bennett et al., 1991) or a biocat- with unwanted consecutive reactions (Leon et al., 2013).
alyst (De Lathouder et al., 2006). The monolith is characterized Tomography measurements have shown that also liquids with
by its number of cells per square inch (Hoek, 2004b). With a higher viscosity can be fed to such a reactor (Tschentscher
increasing cell density the catalyst layer thickness decreased,
which proved to be benecial for the performance of the
monolithic stirrer reactor (Hoek et al., 2004). The volumetric
gasliquid mass transfer coefcient in a monolith increases
from 0.015 s1 at 200 RPM to 0.527 s1 at 450 RPM when mea-
sured for the stirrer conguration with two monoliths in one
plane (Hoek, 2004a). The cell density of the monoliths has no
effect on the gasliquid mass transfer rate. The volumetric
gasliquid mass transfer increases by a factor of three when
a stirrer conguration consisting of four monoliths in one
plane is used. The liquidsolid mass transfer rate increased
with increasing stirrer speed (Hoek, 2004b). The biggest
potential for industrial implementation would be the replace-
ment of conventional slurry reactors that are nowadays
used for multiphase processes, for example in ne chemical
synthesis.

2.1.4. Foam based stirrer


A recent innovation in stirrer design for stirred tanks is the
solid foam based stirrer. Such stirrers contain a piece of
open-celled solid foam which is made out of a reticulated
structure of struts (Fig. 5). Each strut has the function of a Fig. 5 Schematic 3D-view of the foam stirrer tank. The
static mixer which splits and recombines the uid stream stirrer is equipped with two equal foam blocks on which a
that passes the strut. The solid foam combines a high surface high catalyst loading can be coated.
area (1608500 m2 m3 ) with a high voidage (8097%), which Courtesy to Tschentscher et al. (2010a).
chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940 1929

As a result the mean residence time of the liquid phase in


the reactor is very short which limits the separation capacity.
The micromixing efciency of rotating packed beds is dis-
cussed in detail by Yang et al. (2005). There, the micromixing
time is approximately evaluated to be about 104 s.
Two in-depth reviews describe the functionality of the
rotating packed bed and the relevant literature up to 2010 in
great detail (Rao et al., 2004; Zhao et al., 2010), including liquid
ow, gasliquid mass transfer, micromixing efciency, strip-
ping/absorption, and nano-particle preparation. The main
conclusion is that adequate design of the rotor is essential for
full exploitation of the centrifugal eld. The height equiva-
lent of a transfer unit is about 45 times lower in RPBs than
Fig. 6 Schematic side view of a rotating packed bed in
in conventional extraction columns (Rao et al., 2004), and
which the vapor phase (dotted lines) and the liquid phase
equals 1 102 2 102 m (Zhao et al., 2010). The intensi-
(solid line) are contacted counter-currently over the rotating
cation achieved so far falls short of the goal of 23 orders
packing (gray).
of magnitude volume reduction of the conventional columns
volume (Rao et al., 2004).
Relatively poor mass transfer performance of RPB technol-
et al., 2012). An important advantage for industrial implemen- ogy was observed when used as bioreactor for the production
tation of this stirrer type is the very low pressure drop which of polyhydroxyalkanoate from a fermentation broth (Boodhoo
ensures the good accessibility of the catalyst on the foam. For et al., 2010). The apparent poor performance is attributed
industrial implementation it is essential that the catalyst does to the limitation of the gas and liquid ow rates that are
not wash out, and thus that the appropriate catalyst coating a consequence of ooding characteristics. Also, the possi-
technique is applied. ble entrainment of air in the oxygen stripped end product
could have inuenced the reliability of these ndings. The
2.2. High shear rotating tubes micromixing efciency in the RPB was determined using the
VillermauxDushman reaction system. In this study samples
2.2.1. Rotating packed bed were drawn along the radial position. The micromixing ef-
Rotating packed beds (RPBs) have received considerable atten- ciency was thus measured in different packing zones of the
tion as a method of process intensication for gasliquid RPB. The micromixing time in the RPB can be as low as 104 s,
mass transfer. Most publications mention that the rst patent which is one to three orders of magnitude smaller than in
on RPB-technology was lled by Ramshaw and Mallinson conventional packed beds. In the Impinging Stream Rotating
(1981). This patent described the application of such tech- Packed Bed (IS-RPB), two stainless capillary nozzles are located
nology for distillation, absorption, and stripping (Ramshaw, in-line with the rotational shaft. The two different liquids
1983). An earlier patent application described this same tech- ow along the same axis in the opposite direction and col-
nique about two decades earlier (Pilo, 1960). Rotating packed lide, which causes a narrow zone in which a high turbulence
beds can be operated either co-currently, cross-currently or intensity is created which leads to high micromixing (Qi et al.,
counter-currently. In the most basic form of a RPB, the rotor is 2008), and excellent mass transfer efciency (Jiao et al., 2012).
an annular cylindrical packed bed which is housed in a cylin- Several implementations of rotating packed beds have been
drical casing (Fig. 6). In rotating packed beds the rotational successfully obtained, including seawater treatment, HOCl
speed ranges from 500 to 2500 RPM. The rotor can be made of production and nanoparticle preparation. However, industrial
various packing types, e.g. gas spheres, solid foam, and discs. acceptance of this reactor type is yet to come, mainly due to
Other rotor congurations which have been applied are disc concerns involving reliability and the energy consumption.
plate packings (Jian et al., 1998), helical packings (Chen et al., More sound theoretical foundations are required, especially
1995), multistaged spraying packings (Pan et al., 2006), and the liquid distribution at the entrance (in the center) of packed
split-packings (Chandra et al., 2005; Reddy et al., 2006). bed is of main importance for the mixing intensity obtained
The gas phase and liquid phase are counter-currently con- in the reactor. This should be combined with long term oper-
tacted in a RPB. The gas phase is introduced near the casing, ational data and economic evaluation of such data.
and ows radially inwards through the packing and exits the
reactor through the shaft. The liquid phase is fed through a 2.2.2. Rotating zigzag bed
stationary feeding tube placed in the eye of the rotor, and In the rotating zigzag bed (RZB) the packing from the rotating
touches the inner periphery of the packing as droplets, jets, packed bed is replaced by a rotor which is a coaxial combina-
or as a spray. For measurements at low gravity level (<60 g) tion of a rotating disc with a stationary disc (Fig. 7) (Li et al.,
the liquids lls the voids of the packing, whereas at high grav- 2012, 2013). Concentric circular sheets are mounted on the
ity levels (>100 g) the voids are only partial lled (Burns and rotor and the stator, and act as rotating and stationary bafes,
Ramshaw, 1996; Burns et al., 2003). respectively. Typically the distance between the consecutive
The residence time distribution in a RPB was deter- rings is below 15 103 m.
mined experimentally, and showed that intense macromix- The gas and liquid ow are counter-currently contacted
ing is obtained at the inner region of the packing while owing in a horizontal zigzag motion through the reac-
(dR = 7 103 10 103 ) where the liquid impinges and tor. The RZB thus has in essence a similar geometry as
deforms. The same study showed that the liquid volume in conventional tray-distillation columns, but in the RZB the ow
a packed bed under normal operation, does not exceed 5% of is oriented in a vertical plane and the gravitational eld (1 g) is
the total bed volume (Kenyvani and Gardner, 1989). replaced by a high centrifugal eld (>500 g) (Wang et al., 2011).
1930 chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940

Fig. 7 Schematic side view of the rotating zigzag bed. In


this reactor the packing consists of a rotating disc (gray)
and a stator (black). Two series of concentric circular sheets
are xed on the rotating and the stationary disc. The
circular sheets on the rotor are perforated.

When compared to a rotating packed bed reactor the diameter


is increased by a factor two, whereas the length is reduced by
a factor 16. The reactor volume thus decreased by a factor 5
(Li et al., 2013). Fig. 8 A schematic representation of the top view of a
The rotating zigzag reactor has a few benecial advantages rotating uidized bed in a static geometry. The gas phase is
over common RPB technology: rst, one of the dynamic seals injection through the tangential inlets. Due to the rotation
can be replaced by a static seal, yielding a longer seal life- of the injected gas phase, the solids present in the reactor
time and thus less maintenance. Second, additional feed inlets will start to uidize.
can be applied through the stator which allows for continu- Courtesy to Rosales Trujillo and De Wilde (2012).
ous operation of the distillation process (Ji et al., 2008). Third,
no additional liquid feed distributers are required: the zigzag
(Deen et al., 2004). In uidized beds, high catalyst loadings can
ow enhances mixing between each consecutive ring. Fourth,
be applied.
the liquid hold-up of the bed is larger than in a conventional
Two types of rotating uidized beds (RFBs) have been
RPB, which leads to an increased residence time. Fifth, in the-
applied with either a static (SG) or rotating geometry (RG)
ory multiple zigzag-rotors could be mounted on one rotational
(Harish Kumar and Murthy, 2010). In the rotating uidized
shaft (Wang et al., 2008).
bed with a rotating geometry the cylindrical enclosure rotates
The number of theoretical plates increases with increas-
around its own axis of symmetry. As a result the intensity of
ing rotor speed (Wang et al., 2008). The RZB may contain up
the gravitational eld depends on the rotational speed and the
to 20 theoretical plates per meter length, when operated at
enclosure radius.
1000 RPM and reux rate of 600 103 m3 h1 (when measured
Compared to conventional uidized beds its main advan-
with an inner rotor diameter 20 102 m, outer rotor diame-
tage is the wider range of operation (Harish Kumar and Murthy,
ter of 63 102 , casing diameter of 80 102 m, casing height
2010). The biggest disadvantage is that at extreme rotational
55 102 m, measured for the separation of an ethanol-water
speeds of the enclosure, particles will accumulate near the
mixture) (Wang et al., 2008). Seven industrial applications of
rim of the enclosure which leads to the channeling of the gas
RZB technology have been reported, with a maximum feed
phase through the dead zone near the center of the enclosure
capacity of 48 tons day1 (Wang et al., 2008). The overall pres-
(Kroger et al., 1980). The pressure drop and uidization criteria
sure drop of the RZB is a combination of the pressure drops
have been presented by (Chen, 1987).
over the rotor, the casing and the gas outlet (Li et al., 2013), and
The second type of rotating uidized beds has a static
increases with increasing rotor speed and the gas ow rate,
geometry which makes that in essence this reactor is not a
and decreases with increasing liquid ow rate (Wang et al.,
rotated reactor; however the uid behavior has a large simi-
2011). Empirical correlations for the overall pressure drop over
larity with that of other equipment described in this review (De
the RZB have been presented for a dry bed and a wetted bed (Li
Wilde and de Broqueville, 2008a). This rotating uidized bed
et al., 2013). The power required to propel the rotating zigzag
with a static geometry is also known as the GasSolid Vortex
bed is discussed in detail by Agarwal et al. (2010) and Li et al.
Reactor (GSVR). In this reactor the gas phase is injected tan-
(2012).
gentially into the cylindrical reactor which contains the solid
particles (Fig. 8). Due to the transfer of momentum from the
2.2.3. Rotating uidized bed gas-phase to the particles, the particles will rotate in the reac-
Fluidized beds are widely applied in chemical industry and are tor and generate a centrifugal force. High mass transfer rates
used for a wide range of processes including olen polymer- are obtained in this reactor due to the counter play between
ization end detergent production. In a uidized bed reactor the centrifugal force and the drag force applied by the inward-
the gas phase is forced through a bed of solid particles. As owing gas.
a result, at appropriate conditions the gassolid mixture will The solids experience a centrifugal force which is directed
exhibit uid-like behavior, and can also be modeled as such radially outwards, while the gas phase is forced to move
chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940 1931

radially inwards, which uidizes the solids radially. The con-


cept has been illustrated for low density polymer particles and
high density aluminia particles, for various solids loadings
(De Wilde and de Broqueville, 2007). The heat transfer rate is
studied numerically by using computational uid dynamics
simulations of the particle bed temperature response to a step
change in the uidization gas temperature (de Broqueville
and De Wilde, 2009).
The functionality of the GSVR has been demonstrated for
the pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. The gassolid heat
transfer coefcient equals 650 W m2 K1 , which is 35 times
higher than in non-rotating uidization reactors (Ashcraft
et al., 2012; De Wilde and de Broqueville, 2008a). The gassolid
mass transfer coefcient for the GSVR is about 10 times higher
than for conventional riser technology (Ashcraft et al., 2013). Fig. 9 The spinning tube-in-tube reactor. The temperature
The GSVR can be extended with a rotating chimney which can be controlled by a heat exchanger which is located
leads to increase of the centrifugal force in the vicinity of the around the process volume (green). Reprinted with
chimney, which on its turn allows to reduce solids losses via permission from (Gonzalez and Ciszewski, 2008). Copyright
the chimney and simultaneously to build up a higher solids 2009, American Chemical Society. (For interpretation of the
loading in the uidization chamber at given gas ow rate references to color in this gure legend, the reader is
and solids feeding rates (De Wilde and de Broqueville, 2008b). referred to the web version of the article.)
Rotating uidized beds have a relatively large volume. In rotat-
ing uidized beds this implies that the energy consumption is
high when compared to other reactors.
2.2.5. Spinning tube-in-tube reactor
The last example of a reactor with tubular geometry is the
2.2.4. TaylorCouette reactor
spinning tube-in-tube reactor. The reactor patent for this reac-
For reactors in which only the inner or both inner and
tor was led in 2008 by Richard Holl (Holl, 2010). The reactor
the outer cylinders are rotating, a TaylorCouette type of
consists of a rotating cylinder (rotor) inside a stationary cylin-
ow is observed. Such ow offers the advantage of centrifu-
der (stator), which are mounted at a concentric radial spacing
gally accelerated settling, short residence times, low volume
between 0.25 103 and 0.44 103 m (Fig. 9).
fractions, exible phase ratios and a well-controlled inven-
As a result of the small radial distance between the cylin-
tory (Vedantam and Joshi, 2006). This class of reactors is
ders, the reactants inside the annular volume are exposed
also known as rotating annular rectors. The residence time
to elevated shear stress levels. The typical rotational speed
distribution for a such a reactor can be described as near plug
of the rotor is between 3000 and 12,000 RPM, with a reactor
ow behavior for Taylor numbers (ratio of centrifugal to the
volume that varies from 1 105 to 1 103 m3 . The reactor
viscous forces) above 60 where a laminar vortex ow regime
concept has been demonstrated for ne chemical production
is present (Pudjiono and Tavare, 1993).
(Gonzalez and Ciszewski, 2008; Hampton et al., 2008). Due to
A detailed review on experimental correlations between
the low reactor volume, and expected excellent heat trans-
the axial dispersion number and the Reynolds number is given
fer rates, this reactor is suited for highly exothermic reactions
elsewhere, together with a detailed CFD and RTD study of the
which require only a small amount of catalyst.
uid ow behavior (Vedantam et al., 2006). Normally a smooth
shaped cylinder is used. Experiments with a ribbed rotor lead
to an increase of the micromixing efciency (Richter et al., 2.3. Low shear rotating tubes
2008). Both the exothermic copper-catalyzed oxidation of iso-
propanol and the pyrolysis of acetone to ketene were studied 2.3.1. Rotating tube reactor
(Cohen and Marom, 1983), and were executed under excellent Several reactors have been developed which combine a tubular
control over the yield and selectivity. geometry with low shear conditions. The rotating tube reac-
Rotating annular equipment also nds its application in tor consists of a rotatable hollow cylinder, and has a rotational
the intensication of stage wise counter-current liquidliquid speed which is typically below 1000 RPM. The centrifugal force
extraction (Schuur et al., 2012), and the continuous pro- induced by the rotation results in thin liquid lms inside
duction of monodispersed nanoparticles (Ogihara et al., the rotating rube, with a thickness between 700 106 and
1995). This reactor is quite similar to the rotating annu- 1400 106 m. The technology has been applied in the trans-
lar reactor, in which a gasliquid or liquidliquid mixture is esterication of canola oil to biodiesel using a base catalyst.
forced through the radial duct between two coaxial cylin- Using methanol and sodium hydroxide as catalysts, a conver-
ders, of which the inner cylinder is rotating (Lawrence et al., sion of 98% was achieved in residence times of 40 s (Lodha
2000). et al., 2012).
The radial distance between the two cylinders is small The conversion obtained while using a residence time of
when compared to the radii of the cylinders and is in the range 40 s is equal to the conversion obtained in a membrane reactor
of 10 103 m, which is about 40 times higher when compared operated at a residence time of 6 h, for a volumetric ow rate
to the spinning tube-in-tube reactor. Typically the ow rate which is 150 times higher (Lodha et al., 2012). The mechani-
is in the range of 10 103 m3 h1 (Lawrence et al., 2000). As cally simple design of this reactor and the low pressure drop
a result, the pressure drop in the rotating annular reactor is over the cylinder, make that the reactor can be used for bulk
lower, which allows for a larger throughput. processes in which mass transfer limitations is not limiting.
1932 chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940

Fig. 10 A schematic side view and front view of the rotating biological contactor. A stack of discs (black) is partially
immersed in the liquid (gray). Rotation of the stack of discs increases the liquid lm renewal at the disc surface.

2.3.2. Rotating tubular membrane reactor two cylinders is lled with the solid phase. Often ion-exchange
The rotating membrane bioreactor with a tubular geometry resins are used which have the function of both catalyst and
was patented in 1982 (Cowen et al., 1982). In this reactor the adsorbent. The adsorbent can also be used for the immobi-
membrane is rotating around a shaft which is placed at the lization of biocatalysts (Sarmidi and Barker, 1993b).
liquid level in the reactor. As a result the membrane is par- The solvent of the reacting molecules is distributed equally
tially wetted but continuously refreshed during operation. The at the top of the reactor. The rotational speed of the cylin-
rotational speed of the membrane is most often below 10 RPM. ders, typically below 10 RPM, causes horizontal migration of
A typical reactor volume equals 2 103 m3 , and has a total the reacting molecules, whereas the uid ow causes a ver-
effective ltration area of 0.043 m2 (Jiang et al., 2012). Rotation tical downward migration of the reacting molecules through
of the membrane allows for an increase of the permeate ux the solid phase. Reaction products with a high afnity to the
because cake formation is suppressed in microltration and solid phase will have a large horizontal velocity component,
concentration polarization is suppressed during ultraltration whereas reaction products with a low afnity have a small
and reverse osmosis (Jaffrin, 2008). horizontal velocity component (Sarmidi and Barker, 1993a).
At different angular positions of the reactor, the sepa-
2.3.3. Rotating annular chromatographic reactor rated products can be collected in high purity. The historical
The rotating annual chromatographic reactor is a chemical development is described in detail in a review elsewhere
reactor in which chromatographic separation takes place, and (Uretschlger and Jungbauer, 2002). Typically the reactor vol-
is used for liquidsolid or gassolid systems (Cho et al., 1980a). ume is in the range of 10 103 m3 , whereas the volumetric
The reactor consists of two rotatable cylinders which are rotat- ow rate equals 15 103 m3 h1 (Cho et al., 1980b). The pres-
ing around one central shaft (Fig. 11). The volume between the sure drop due to the packing inside the narrow concentric
space limits the scalability in terms of volumetric throughput
(Strhlein et al., 2007).

2.3.4. Rotating sorbent reactor


The rotating sorbent reactor was developed in 2004 and is a
combination of the rotating particle separator with a cyclonic
reactor. The basic design consists of three stages. In the rst
stage, the solid phase is injected in a gas phase ow that con-
tains an undesired component. In the second stage, the solid
phase absorbs the undesired component from the gas phase,
and in the third stage the solid phase is separated from the gas
phase. Typical rotational speed of the separator part is higher
than 12,000 RPM. The volumetric ow rate equals 50 m3 h1
and the reactor volume equals 4 103 m3 . Industrial applica-
tions have not been reported in literature (Mondt et al., 2004).

2.4. Low shear rotating disc reactors

The rotating biological contactor (or rotating disc gasliquid


contactor) consists of a number of discs which are mounted on
a central horizontal shaft (Fig. 10). The stack of discs with a low
inter-disc distance yields an equal geometry as a cylinder. The
Fig. 11 A schematic side view of the rotating annular discs are partially immersed in the liquid (Zhevalkink et al.,
chromatographic reactor (Sarmidi and Barker, 1993a; 1978). A liquid lm is brought upwards over the surface of the
Stankiewicz, 2003). Component C is added at the stationary discs, upon rotation of the discs. Further rotation will supply
inlet. While owing downwards, the components AC are the liquid lm to the bulk liquid. Typical rotation speeds are
selectively recovered over the rim of the rotating cylinders. below 50 RPM. Due to the low rotational speed and the low
chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940 1933

power consumption of the motor the reactor is suited for a


bulk process, like wastewater treatment.
Several other low shear rotating disc reactors are applied
on either lab scale or pilot scale. The rotating disc CVD reac-
tor has solely applied to achieve a uniform layer thickness in
chemical vapor deposition processes (Coltrin et al., 1989). More
recent research describes a rotating disc photoelectrocatalytic
reactor (Li et al., 2012).

2.5. High shear rotating disc reactor


Fig. 12 The side view of the rotorstator spinning disc
2.5.1. Thin-lm spinning disc reactor. The axial clearance between the rotor and the
The thin-lm spinning disc reactor was commercially devel- stator is in the order of millimeters. Rotation of the rotor
oped with the aim of intensifying gasliquid reactions (Jachuck induces a velocity gradient over the height between the
et al., 1997), and nds its base in a patent from 1927 (Buhtz, rotor and the stator. As a result a shear force acts on the
1927). In this reactor, the liquid phase is fed at the center droplets, bubbles or particles between the rotor and the
of the rotating disc from where it ows radially outwards as stator. This results in high liquidliquid, liquidsolid, and
a thin lm over the disc. Extensive research has been done gasliquid mass transfer rates (Visscher et al., 2012c).
with respect to the gasliquid mass transfer rate (Aoune and
Ramshaw, 1999; Sisoev et al., 2006), liquidsolid mass trans- axial distance between the rotor and the stators is typically in
fer rate (Burns and Jachuck, 2005; Peev et al., 2007a), and the the range of 1.0 103 m (Fig. 12). The rotational disc speed is
heat transfer rates (Harmand et al., 2013). The thin-lm spin- most often around 1000 RPM but rotational speeds of 4500 RPM
ning disc reactor has been used for polymerizations (Boodhoo have been reported (Meeuwse et al., 2012). Pulse wise resi-
and Jachuck, 2000), active pharmaceutical ingredient produc- dence time distribution measurements have shown that the
tion (Oxley et al., 2000), crystallization (Pask et al., 2012; Tai single phase uid ow can be described by a combination of
et al., 2007), and nanoparticle synthesis (Chu et al., 2007; de a plug ow volume and three ideally mixed volumes in series
Caprariis et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2012). (Visscher et al., 2012c). The ideally mixed volumes in series
The characteristics of the liquid lm, i.e. the lm thick- originate from the boundary layer formation on the rotor and
ness and radial velocity and residence time distribution, have the stators (van Eeten et al., 2012; Visscher et al., 2012c).
been described numerically and experimentally (Mohammadi The gasliquid mass transfer rate was measured as a func-
and Boodhoo, 2012). With increasing rotational disc speed the tion of rotational speed (Meeuwse et al., 2010b), rotor diameter
liquid lm thickness decreases with increasing radius (Burns and rotorstator distance (Meeuwse et al., 2009), and feed loca-
et al., 2003; Wood and Watts, 1973). tion of the gas phase (Meeuwse et al., 2009). When the gas
The radial velocity increases with increasing rotational disc phase is fed through an inlet in the bottom stator located at
speed and increasing liquid ow rate, and decreases with the rim of the rotor, the gas bubble is sheared off due to the
increasing viscosity (Wood and Watts, 1973). Surface waves shear stress that is present in the cavity between the rotor and
have been observed in the liquid lm (Aoune and Ramshaw, the stator. The gas bubble diameter decreases with increasing
1999) which are classied as concentric waves or spiral waves rotational disc speed typically below 1 103 m for rotational
(Sisoev et al., 2006), and are of major importance to the speeds above 1000 RPM (Meeuwse et al., 2010b), as a result
gasliquid mass transfer rate (Peev et al., 2007b). Whereas in gasliquid mass transfer rates are reported of 0.43 m3L m3R s1
most studies a smooth disc is used as the rotor, also rotat- at a gas ow rate of 7.3 106 m s1 .
ing discs with surface modications have been used, which Typically the gas-hold up is below 5%. The volumetric mass
allow for a further increase of the gasliquid mass transfer transfer per unit volume of gas is 40 times higher than is
rate (Sisoev et al., 2006). reported for a bubble column. A catalytic coating was applied
Recently, two studies independently discussed the to the rotor (aL = 274 m2I m3 R ) in order to study the reac-
micromixing efciency of the thin-lm spinning disc reactor. tion and liquidsolid mass transfer in series. The volumetric
Both studies concluded that this reactor type is a valuable liquidsolid mass transfer coefcient is one order of mag-
intensied mixer (Boodhoo and Al-Hengari, 2012; Jacobsen nitude higher compare to values reported for packed beds
and Hinrichsen, 2012), with a particular importance for (Meeuwse et al., 2010a). The volumetric mass transfer coef-
the application in very fast reactions that need large heat cient is increased by a factor 3 when the rotor radius is
dissipation (like nitrations, sulfonations, Darzens processes, increased from 0.066 m to 0.135 m whereas the energy input
crystallizations, and exothermic condensations) (Boodhoo, increases by a factor 15 (Meeuwse et al., 2011). The preferred
2012). The scale-up of the thin-lm spinning disc reactor is method to scale-up this reactor without changing the volu-
discussed in detail elsewhere (Boodhoo, 2012). The desired metric throughput is therefore not to increase the diameter
method of scale-up is a counter play of the residence time but to increase the number of rotors-in-series (Meeuwse et al.,
and the liquid lm thickness. Both are determined by the 2012).
rotational disc speed and the disc radius. The overall liquidliquid mass transfer rate in the spin-
ning disc was measured using an extraction system with
2.5.2. Rotorstator spinning disc reactor water as the continuous phase and n-heptane as the dis-
A high-shear multiphase rotating reactor that is developed persed phase, in combination with benzoic acid as the solute
as an improvement of the thin-lm spinning disc reactor is (Visscher et al., 2011). The liquidliquid mass transfer rate
the rotorstator spinning disc reactor (van der Schaaf and equals 0.17 m3org m3R s1 at 300 RPM, in this particular case
Schouten, 2011). This reactor consists of a rotating disc (rotor) both phases have plug ow behavior in the reactor. This
which is located between two stationary discs (stators). The value increases to 51.47 m3org m3R s1 at 1600 RPM, in this case
1934 chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940

Fig. 13 Shockwave power reactor (Mancosky, 2013). Fig. 15 Dynamically rotating axis micro reactor.
Courtesy to Ogura et al. (2008).

2.6.2. RAPTOR
both liquids obey ideally mixed behavior. These mass trans-
RAPTOR is an abbreviation of Racteur Agit Polyvalent
fer rates are at least 25 times higher compared to those in
Transfert Optimis Rectiligne, or Reactor with Polyvalent
packed columns and at most 15 times higher compare to those
Rectilinear Stirred Reactor with Optimized Transfer (Bahroun
measured in state-of-the-art microchannels (Visscher et al.,
et al., 2010).
2012d). -Ray tomography measurements have shown the vol-
The technology is developed by the AET group and was pre-
ume fraction of the dispersed phase is closely related to the
sented in 2007, and is shown in Fig. 17 (Barillon et al., 2007).
ratio of the dispersed phase volumetric ow rate over the total
The exact geometry of the reactor is only scarcely disclosed
ow rate (Visscher et al., 2012b).
in the literature (Bahroun et al., 2010). Rotational speeds of
A patented prototype of rotorimpellerrotor spinning disc
the inner part do not exceed 1500 RPM. The small reactor vol-
equipment has been reported in literature which exploits
ume (smaller than 2.9 103 m3 , Milly et al., 2008) allows for
these high liquidliquid mass transfer rate with the aim to
the application of temperatures up to 300 C and an operat-
intensify liquidliquid contacting equipment (van der Schaaf
ing pressure of 250 bar. The maximum ow rate is 0.15 m3 h1 ,
et al., 2012; Visscher et al., 2012a). The height equivalent of a
with a residence time between 15 s and 10 min. The heat trans-
theoretical stage in the extractor equals 1.4 102 m (Visscher
fer area per reactor volume equals 150 m2 m3 which is at least
et al., 2013), which is a factor 10 higher when compared to
30 times higher than for an industrial scale stirred tank reactor
other rotating equipment applied for liquidliquid contacting.
which is batch wise operated (5 m2 m3 ).

2.6. Remaining reactor types 2.6.3. Dynamically rotating axis micro reactor
A unique combination of micro reactor technology and
2.6.1. Shockwave power reactor mechanical agitation is used in the dynamically rotating
The shockwave power reactor was patented in 1993 (Griggs,
1993), and consists of a spinning rotor that is bafed such
that dead ended cavities are present at the rim of the rotor
Figs. 13 and 14. The rotation creates locally a low pressure
zone in the cavities which collapses under the emission of
an energy wave in the surrounding liquid, called the shock-
wave. As a result gasliquid mass transfer rates up to 5.2 s1
have been obtained (Mancosky, 2013), which is about 25 times
higher than in a mechanically agitated tank. The volumetric
ow rate may vary from 0.23 m3 h1 to 1.14 m3 h1 , with typ-
ical rotational speeds of the Shockwave power reactor range
up to 3600 RPM. A challenge in the design of this reactor is the
lifetime of the rotor and the cavities. The combination of cavi-
tation with corrosive chemicals implies that the rotor needs to
be coated with an extraordinary material to resist such harsh
conditions.

Fig. 16 The reactorblock of the Coore reactor. Ten


Fig. 14 Schematic view of the rotor inside the shockwave consecutive mixing chambers are interconnected. Once
power reactor (Mancosky, 2013). Upon rotation of the rotor ideally mixed ow behavior is achieved in each mixing
(light gray) liquid is forced radially outwards, thereby chamber, plug ow behavior is mimicked over the reactor
creating cavitation at the radial inner position of the block.
cavities inside the rotor. Courtesy to Jones et al. (2012).
chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940 1935

2.6.5. Rotating cone reactor


The rotating cone reactor was developed at the University of
Twente. In this reactor a solid phase is fed to the bottom inlet
of a rotating cone, from where they travel spiral-wise upwards.
The inner diameter of the cone has a maximum of 0.650 m. The
rotational speed of the cone is 900 RPM. The reactor volume
may range from 2 to 200 dm3 . The combined feed rate of the
gas and solid phase equals 13 kg h1 . The rst industrial test
case for which this reactor is used was the pyrolysis of biomass
(Wagenaar et al., 1994). More recently the ow behavior was
presented (Leung et al., 2012), as well as the feasibility of the
rotating cone reactor for the epoxidation of soybean oil (Chen
Fig. 17 The experimental set-up of the RAPTOR. The et al., 2011).
reactor exhibits high heat and mass transfer rates and can
handle ow rates with a maximum of 0.15 m3 h1 . 2.6.6. Rotating membrane reactor
Courtesy to Barillon et al. (2007). Rotating membranes nd their application in ultraltration
(Sarkar et al., 2009, 2012). A theoretical comparison of rotat-
axis micro reactor. This reactor consists of two cylinders of ing and stationary membrane disc lters was published in
which one is rotating. The inner cylinder has internal diame- 2000 (Serra and Wiesner, 2000). An in-depth review on this
ter of 8 103 m and the spacing between the two cylinders matter was published by Jaffrin (2008). To obtain sufcient sur-
is 100 106 m (Fig. 15, Ogura et al., 2008). The volumet- face area multidisc membrane units are mounted on a single
ric ow rate is typically in the range of 80 109 m3 s1 . shaft.
The rotation speed of the outer cylinder is limited to Examples of equipment are the DMF (Pall Corp., USA), Dyno
3600 RPM. Due to the high shear stress in the small radial (Bokela, Germany), Optilter (ABB Flootek, Finland) and the
gap between the 100 103 m long cylinders, high mass trans- SpinTek (Huntington, USA) (Jaffrin, 2008). The membrane area
fer rates are achieved for liquidliquid applications, as has per module may reach 150 m2 (Blse et al., 2006). Membrane
been demonstrated by generating emulsions of water and o- diameters are typically below 1 m. The power required for rota-
chlorobenzene, and the nitration of naphthalene (Ogura et al., tion is below 30 kW (Jaffrin, 2008). The availability of ceramic
2013). Literature on this reactor type is too scarce to make a membranes will facilitate the future development of rotat-
valid estimation of its feasibility. ing membrane reactors, its application for the production of
galacto-oligosaccarides should an productivity increase by a
factor two (Sen et al., 2012).
2.6.4. Coore agitated cell reactor
The coore agitated cell reactor (ACR) is commercially avail-
able since 2006 and consists of two separate parts: a reactor 3. Summary and outlook
block and a lateral moving plate (Jones et al., 2012). Each reac-
tor block consists of a channel that connects ten consecutive This review-perspective paper describes the current state-of-
interlinked reactor chambers. In each chamber a non-xed the-art in the eld of rotating reactors. An overview is given
mixing element is present (Fig. 16). Upon moving the plate, of the development of rotating reactors over time. The paper
the non-xed mixing element enhances the dispersion in has a focus on rotating reactor technology with applications
the reactor chambers. The moving plate causes the liquid in lab scale, pilot scale and industrial chemical reaction engi-
in each reactor chamber to behave as ideally mixed ow; as neering. Rotating reactors are classied according to their
a result plug ow behavior is mimicked in a single reactor geometry. The reactors are classied as stirred tanks, tubes,
block. discs and miscellaneous reactors. Their main advantages and
The design of the non-xed mixing element opens up disadvantages are presented, including the typical operational
the application for gasliquid contacting as well as slurry conditions (residence time, rotational speed, energy consump-
handling. Catalysts can be loaded into the non-xed mixing tion). An overview is given in Table 1. The energy dissipation
element. The reactor block volume may vary from 20 106 m3 mentioned in Table 1 represent the maximum energy con-
to 100 106 m3 , volumetric liquid ow rate equals up to sumed by the motor(s) that propel the rotating element(s).
10 103 m3 s1 . Adjustments can be made to allow for This is not equal to the energy that is dissipated locally in
counter-current liquidliquid extraction over 6 stages in a sin- the liquids. Where possible an accurate approximation of this
gle extractor block. Technically this reactor does not belong to difference is given. However, for many reactors the energy
this review since it is shaken, not stirred. When the reactor is that is locally dissipated in the reactants is not well dened.
mounted on the moving plate the unit has a small footprint; As an indication the power to volume ratio could be studied.
accordingly the reactor is well applicable in laboratories and From such a ratio the Shockwave power reactor has high local
in fume hoods. energy dissipation, whereas a large scale stirred tank has a
The feasibility of various industrial applications have been low power to volume ratio. Table 1 thus has the function of an
reported by the manufacturer, including but limited to the orientation on the maximum power that is consumed by the
Hoffman reaction, Suzuki reaction, polymerizations and Grig- reactors described.
nard reactions. The greatest benet to conventional batch In academia there is a tendency to develop multifunctional
reactors is the easy scalability of the reactor. A challenge for modules suited for reactive extractions, one-pot synthesis,
further industrial implementation of this reactor will be the and juke-box like functionalities where multiple separations
prevention of fouling, for processes in which solids build-up steps are combined in one compact mini-plant. The further
might occur. development of such equipment requires that large scale
1936 chemical engineering research and design 9 1 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 19231940

equipment manufacturers, end-product consumers, proto- Baldyga, J., Pohorecki, R., 1995. Turbulent micromixing in
type experts, and reactor scientists collaborate together from chemical reactors a review. Chem. Eng. J. Biochem. Eng. J. 58
(2), 183195.
the start in research projects dealing with reactor develop-
Barillon, O., De Panthou, F., Marie, S., Trani, A., Falk, L., Jenck, J.,
ment.
2007. 1st European Process Intensifcation Conference ,
A promising route to bridge the gap between lab-scale 19-9-2007, Copenhagen, Denmark.
reactor development and industrial implementation of new, Bawadi, Abdullah, et al., 2011. Chapter Synthetic Liquids
intensied reactors is the process of knowledge valorization. Production and Rening. American Chemical Society.
One method to achieve such an industrial implementation is Bennett, C.J., Kolaczkowski, S.T., et al., 1991. Determination of
the startup of spinoff companies (De Cleyn and Braet, 2009). heterogeneous reaction kinetics and reaction rates under
mass transfer controlled conditions for a monolith reactor.
Examples of such spinoff companies are Transatomic Power
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SOWARLA (wastewater treatment), and SPINID (rotorstator Eng. Prog. 70 (5), 78.
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resource incubators at research institutes and universities will Rotating lter. Date of patent: 8/11/2006.
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Introducing new reactor concepts in chemical engineering Process Intensication Technologies for Green Chemistry:
Engineering Solutions for Sustainable Chemical Processing.
is a lengthy process. Industry is reluctant to introduce novel
Wiley, ChiChester, UK (Chapter 3).
chemical reactor types in existing processes when replace- Boodhoo, K.V.K., Al-Hengari, S.R., 2012. Micromixing
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HIGEE bioreactor (HBR) for production of
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