(98e) Production Scale Use of Microstructured Devices in Solids Technology

The aim of solids technology is the
production of disperse solid products. Disperse substances require to have specific
characteristics in terms of production and application. The handling and
production of solid substances is a mayor task in chemical industry because a
vast majority of products are solid substances or at least pass through a
disperse state in the course of their production.

The application of microstructured
devices offers new opportunities for the production of solid chemicals.
Microstructured devices usually contain structures below 1000µm. Their main
advantage is their high surface to volume ratio which leeds to a large specific
surface area. In terms of solids technology microstructured devices can be used
to obtain specific application-related product properties. Especially the
design of the regular structures offer possibilities for influencing the
particle size distribution. However, the handling of solid substances in
microstructured devices is always challenging.

In the current paper the Starlaminator (designed
by Institut für Mikrotechnik Mainz) has been used to produce well-defined
particles in the submicron area. The Starlaminator is based on the micromixing
concept of flow multilamination. The solid products produced in the micro mixer
were compared to those obtained from conventional stirred batch reactors. Special
attention was also given to the influence of surface-active agents on the
precipitation. Product properties and process conditions were measured to
characterize the precipitation process. For example particle size analysis was
performed using laser diffractometry. A concept for an industrial production
has been done in a second development step. Viscosity effects has been studied
as well as effects of extreme phase ratios like 1:10. The project ends with a
setup for a production scale reactor with a throughput of 4 tons per hour.