Join together in new projects to incorporate it into your production processes
The process industry is constantly looking for innovations to reduce production costs, improve product quality and provide competitive advantage. Continuous Reactor Technologies are examples of innovations that provide this competitive edge. An alternative and very promising technology is HiGee Technology.
The ISPT has researched HiGee in earlier projects and looked at the Rotating Packed Beds (RPB) as well as Spinning Disk technology. HiGee technology is already being applied in the US and China, yet it is still in the early stages of development. A deeper understanding has to be gained as to why and how this technology performs so well. Which process phenomena and parameters are essential and/or play a decisive role? More research is needed, and will prove extremely worthwhile, so that we can much better control and predict where and how this technology can be applied in a robust and more effective way. This will definitely open doors to a broader application and implementation of this technology.
HiGee technology creates large Liquid/Gas or Liquid/Liquid interfaces and enhances shear flow by using a gravitational field. This method improves micro-mixing controlled processes and improves mass transfer limited processes compared to traditional columns. The gravitational field is induced by spinning the disk or the bed. A packed bed will already increase the interactive surface between different phases in which the reactive components are present. A rotating packed bed can speed up reactions – and thus speed up the production process – by enhancing the diffusion or exchange of components between the phases significantly.
The mentioned research will provide chemical companies better insights into whether this HiGee technology will offer a viable alternative to mixer-reactors or traditional distillation equipment. Where applicable, this could lead to smaller equipment being needed and significant reduction in costs and environmental impact.
It is therefore that the ISPT Process Intensification cluster places a call to action to all companies that could benefit from the application of this new and promising technology within in their production line to join together and continue the forward momentum started in the earlier projects!
Please contact Menno Plantenga for more information.
Acknowledgement
This project is co-funded by TKI-Energy with the supplementary grant 'TKI- Toeslag' for Topconsortia for Knowledge and Innovation (TKI’s) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.