Micro-reactor for reactions between gases and liquids

• US 20040156762A1
• Filed: 01/27/2003
• Published: 08/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: YMC Co., Ltd. (YMC Investment KK)
• Original Assignee: Cellular Process Chemistry, Inc.
• Inventors: Golbig, Klaus, Dittmann, Bernd, Schuppich, Harald
• Granted Patent: US 7,247,276 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 422/191
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 19/0093 Microreactors, e.g. miniaturised or microfabricated reactors laboratory containers with capillary fluid transport in microfabricated channels or chambers B01L3/5027
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00783 Laminate assemblies, i.e. the reactor comprising a stack of plates
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00835 Comprising catalytically active material
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00873 Heat exchange
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00952 Sensing operations
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00959 Flow
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00961 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00966 pH
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 1/00 Devices without movable or flexible elements, e.g. microcapillary devices
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 3/00 Heat-exchange apparatus having stationary conduit assemblies for one heat-exchange medium only, the media being in contact with different sides of the conduit wall, in which the other heat-exchange medium flows in a continuous film, or trickles freely, over the conduits F28D5/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F28F 2260/02 having microchannels
• CPC Class Codes: F28F 3/048 in the form of ribs integral with the element or local variations in thickness of the element, e.g. grooves, microchannels

Abstract

The invention concerns a microreactor for carrying out chemical reactions between a reaction partner in liquid form and a reaction partner in gaseous form, if necessary in the presence of a solid catalyst, whereby the chemical process guidance takes place in spaces that are formed by two or more essentially coplanar plates or layers, with at least one of these plates or layers being a fluid guidance plate (1) that is structured and/or arranged in such a way that the fluid reaction partner flows in at least one essentially uninterrupted capillary thread along the surface of this plate or layer only due to the influence of gravity and/or capillary forces and thereby comes into contact and reacts with the gaseous reaction partner.

Claims

1. Microreactor for carrying out chemical reactions between a reaction partner in fluid form and a reaction partner in gaseous form, if necessary in the presence of a solid catalyst, whereby the chemical process guidance takes place in spaces that are formed by one or more essentially coplanar plates or layers, at least one of which is a fluid guidance plate (1) that is structured and/or arranged in such a way that the fluid reaction partner flows along the surface of this plate or layer only due to gravitational and/or capillary forces in at least one essentially uninterrupted capillary thread and thereby comes into contact and reacts with the gaseous reaction partner.

2. Microreactor according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the plates or layers are arranged at an angle deviating from the horizontal plane.

3. Microreactor according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the fact that the rear wall of the fluid guidance plate is in contact with a heat exchange medium.

4. Microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 3, characterized by the fact that the fluid guidance plate (1) has a thickness of 120 μ

m to 4000 μ

m and the capillary grooves, in which threads of liquid are created, have a width of 20 μ

m to 2000 μ

m and a depth of 20 μ

m to 500 μ

m, with the partition walls between two neighboring capillary grooves having a width of 5 μ

m to 250 μ

m.

5. Microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 4, characterized by the fact that it comprises at least three, structured plates, essentially arranged in parallel,

a bottom plate (22),

a fluid guidance plate (1) and

a top plate (12).

6. Microreactor with a modular structure according to one of the claims 1 to 5, characterized by the fact that by inserting any number of intermediate plates (6) and the same number of fluid guidance plates (1) between the bottom plate (22) and the top plate (12), the number of reaction spaces in the reactor can be increased by the number of inserted intermediate plates (6) or fluid guidance plates (1).

7. Microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 6, characterized by the fact that it has

(a) one or more separate and/or common inlet tubes for the fluid reaction partner;

(b) one or more inlet and discharge tubes for the gaseous reaction partner;

(c) one or more separate and/or common discharge tubes for the produced reaction mixture;

(d) one or more inlet and discharge tubes for the heat exchange medium; and

(e) if necessary sensors for controlling the reaction conditions, whereby each inlet and discharge tube is assigned to a fluid guidance plate (1).

8. Microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 7, characterized by the fact that the inlet tube for the fluid reaction partner is equipped with devices that ensure a uniform distribution of the fluid reaction partner to the individual capillary grooves of the fluid guidance plate (1).

9. Microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 8, characterized by the fact that it has at least one gas inlet tube (8) in which the gaseous reaction partner flows into a gas distribution channel (10), whereby the flow path of the gas is equipped with bottlenecks (11) that are formed by the fluid guidance plate (1) and a further plate.

10. Microreactor according to claim 9, characterized by the fact that the reaction chamber (5) formed between the top plate (12) or, as the case may be, an intermediate plate (6) and the fluid guidance plate (1), is equipped with ramps (13) for improving the mass transfer.

11. Microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 10, characterized by the fact that the fluid guidance plate (1) is cooled or heated on its rear side, with a liquid or gaseous heat exchange medium flowing through channels of 0.5 to 2 mm width.

12. Microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 12, characterized by the fact that one or more fluid guidance plates (1), the bottom plate (22), one or more intermediate plates (6) and the top plate are made from graphite, ceramics, plastic and/or metal.

13. Microreactor according to claim 12, characterized by the fact that the fluid guidance plate (1) features a catalytically active material.

14. Process for manufacturing a fluid guidance plate (1) for a microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 13, characterized by the fact that a grid-shaped element (41) is attached and fastened onto an unstructured plate (42) and if applicable, a catalytically active material is applied to the grid-shaped surface.

15. Fluid guidance plate (1) with a total wall thickness of 120 μ

m to 4000 μ

m for a microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 13, essentially consisting of two coplanar, joined elements, characterized by the fact that (a) the first element (41) has a wall thickness of 20 μ

m to 500 μ

m and a grid-shaped structure with several partition walls arranged in parallel that stretch between two partition walls of the same thickness that are arranged orthogonally to them, whereby the breakthroughs between the partition walls arranged in parallel have a width of 20 μ

m to 2000 μ

m and the partition walls arranged in parallel have a thickness of 5 μ

m to 250 μ

m. (b) the second element (42) is an unstructured, even plate of the same length and width as the first element and has a thickness of 20 μ

m to 3980 μ

m.

16. Process for manufacturing a microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 13, comprising the following steps:

(a) Manufacture of plates or layers whose surfaces are processed with micro and/or precision engineering so that they form reaction and/or functional spaces in conjunction with a further plate or layer;

(b) Manufacture of one or more fluid guidance plates (l);

(c) Stacking of the individual plates or layers in a suitable order and orientation; and

(d) Sealing by pressing together or fixed or removable joining of the individual plates or layers.

17. Procedure for carrying out chemical reactions between a reaction partner in fluid form and a reaction partner in gaseous form in spaces formed by two or more plates or layers of a microreactor according to one of the claims 1 to 13, for producing one or more gaseous, liquid, dissolved and/or suspended reaction products, characterized by the fact that the fluid reaction partner continuously flows in at least one essentially uninterrupted capillary thread along the surface of at least one plate or layer only due to the influence of gravity and/or capillary forces and thereby comes into contact and reacts with the gaseous reaction partner.

18. Procedure according to claim 17, characterized by the fact that the gaseous reaction partner is selected from hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine, oxygen and an alkylene oxide.