Kinetics-free process intensification: From semi-batch to series of continuous chemical reactors

A kinetics-free procedure is developed to transform a reaction recipe carried out in an isothermal discontinuous semi-batch reactor into one based on a series of continuous tubular or tank reactors. Using a suitable number of reactors and a correct feeding policy, it is possible to reproduce any discontinuous recipe in flow reactors without knowing the kinetics of the system. The developed procedure allows to determine the number of reactors in series (either tubular or stirred tank) able to reproduce the performance of a semi-batch recipe in terms of selectivity, keeping the same productivity of the original semi-batch process. It was found that using 15 reactors in series allows to keep unchanged the performance of a large number of semi-batch processes once a correct policy of intermediate reactant feeding is implemented. This large number of reactors in series with intermediate feeding can be easily implemented using tubular reactors instead of stirred tank ones. Finally, the synthesis of an amine/epoxy resin was investigated as a case study, fully supporting the reliability of the proposed procedure.