INTENSIFICATION OF BATCH CHEMICAL PROCESSES BY USING INTEGRATED CHEMICAL REACTOR-HEAT EXCHANGERS

This paper provides an overview of a collaborative project that was ai med at developing tools that will assist in the design and operation o f integrated chemical reactor-heat exchangers (HEX reactors) for the a dvanced processing of fast exothermic chemical reactions. Tl-le tools are: (i) a chemical probe that is sensitive to both mixing intensity a nd heat transfer and (ii) a mathematical model that describes exotherm ic reacting flows in a simulated heat exchanger passage. Experimental and simulated reactive mixing data and measurements of local temperatu re and velocity profiles in a simulated heat exchanger passage are pro vided as examples to aid design engineers and industrial users of the HEX reactor technology. (C) European Communities 1997. Published by El sevier Science Ltd.