Batch Reactors

Batch reactor is a generic term and it refers to a type of vessel and is used in processing industries. Batch reactors are used for variety of reaction namely for

• Chemical reaction
• Batch distillation
• Crystallization
• Product mixing
• Solids dissolution
• Liquid – liquid extraction
• Polymerization

In some cases, it is not referred as batch reactors it is referred as crystallizer or as bioreactor. Batch reactor includes a tank which is provided with an agitator and also integral heating system or cooling system. The size of batch reactor ranges from 1 liter to 15000 liters. Batch reactors are usually made of steel, stainless steel, glass, glass lined steel and exotic alloy. The ultimate benefit of batch reactor lies in its versatility. Only a single vessel will carry out variety of operations without any such break. Batch reactors are useful in processing highly toxic compounds or potent compounds.

Agitation:

The agitator of batch reactor includes drive shaft and is with overhead drive unit. Blade design of agitator is variable. About two third of batch reactor size are occupied by agitator. Baffles are also included in agitation. Baffles acts as stationary agitator and flow of liquid is caused by rotation of agitator. Shaft stability problem is induced by high agitator load. The higher the mixing rate efficiency of batch reactor increases.

Heating and cooling system:

The byproduct of batch reactor can either absorb or liberate the heat during the processing time. At times, the stored liquids can even generate some heat. The temperature of batch reactor is set according to the convenience of reaction either by adding cooling pipe or cooling jacket. The heating and cooling coil shall absorb heat or cool the batch reactors.  The external heating or cooling jackets play a significant role in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Questions:

• What is batch reactor?
• What are advantages of batch reactor?
• What are demerits of batch reactor?