Corning ’ s Dr Yi Jiang and Alessandra Vizza share their journey tackling global chemical processing challenges in Advanced-Flow Reactors
FLOW CHEMISTRY
Two decades of flow progress
Fluidic module
Corning ’ s Dr Yi Jiang and Alessandra Vizza share their journey tackling global chemical processing challenges in Advanced-Flow Reactors
In 2002 , scientists at the Corning European Technology Centre research facility in France were investigating challenges within various industries . Meanwhile , chemical manufacturing companies were seeking opportunities to create products in a safer , more environmentally friendly way .
Making major changes in an industry that is heavily regulated and relied on to produce a wide variety of products , such as pharmaceuticals , cosmetics and electronics , was a disruptive ask . However , Corning scientists saw an opportunity to investigate how their materials science knowledge could help to make improvements in how chemicals are regularly produced .
Inherently safer technology
After much trial and error , using Corning ’ s know-how in speciality glass , the team came up with an early version of a glass-based plate called a fluidic module ( pictured above ). Although the company initially intended only to sell these , the scientists soon realised that they needed more than the glass modules to make these reactions work the way they envisaged .
To ensure the innovation work in this area could continue and that the company would be able to supply an integrated system , rather than stand-alone components , Corning reapplied its existing modelling , equipment engineering and manufacturing expertise to help create a production unit that offered a more efficient way to process chemicals in a smaller footprint versus traditional , large-batch chemical reactors using inherently safer continuous flow technology .
After several prototypes , finetuning and inputs from major chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers , Corning officially launched its first reactor in 2006 . It was called the 1X and was later renamed the G1 . The reactor was at meso scale and fulfilled the criteria of process intensification tools , particularly as a flow chemistry system similar to microreactors but already modelled for scaling-up .
SEP / OCT 2023 SPECCHEMONLINE . COM
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