Chemtrix BV (Geleen, NL) announces delivery of another industrial flow chemistry plant in India. The total delivery concerns 11 Plantrix® Industrial Flow Reactors which will be operated in a multi-tonne per hour production plant. “This installation demonstrates the capabilities of flow chemistry at the multi-tonne scale, with the challenging processes facilitated only through the use of ceramic reactors” states Dr. Charlotte Wiles, CEO of Chemtrix BV.
Chemtrix can’t publicize the name of the client at this moment, but in time there will be a joint press release giving more details on the cooperation and drivers for using Plantrix® Industrial Flow Reactors. With numerous reactors sold in India to date, this sale is a significant milestone for Chemtrix and represents one of the largest production plants using flow reactors in this chemical sector. The low pressure drop of the Plantrix® reactors, combined with a possible volume of multiple liters is interesting for these types of installation as it allows higher volumes per reactor, making economic CAPEX reality.
Chemical market
Chemtrix delivers its flow reactors to different segments of the chemical market such as pharmaceutical, agrochemical and specialty chemicals. This is a large market with significant potential for processes that can benefit from this technology. Each segment (and therein the chemical process) can have its own drivers for process intensification through the use of flow reactors, think of yield improvements, reduction of solvent usage, less scale up costs or safety challenges and lower inventories. The level of benefit is of course process specific however looking to the complete investment cycle, the drivers to use flow reactors contribute to a reduction of CAPEX and OPEX.
Chemtrix works closely together with the chemical industry to implement flow reactors in R&D, pilot and production. This includes feasibility services to develop the chemical process for the customer in flow, combined with training and engineering know-how. ‘It’s not just selling a reactor’, comments Dr. Wiles. ‘We set-up long term relationships with our clients and work closely together to choose cases where the implementation of flow reactors can be a success’.
Safety & sustainability
‘We see a lot of our clients looking to flow reactors for safety reasons’, comments Stan Hoeijmakers, Marketing Manager at Chemtrix. ‘Some processes in batch are difficult to control or sometimes impossible to do. Our flow reactors have integrated heat exchange which provides the ability to control the process extremely accurately’. Combined with a low hold-up volume (and still the ability to produce tonnes per hour) this makes Plantrix® a safe and reliable solution for many chemistries.
Future
Chemtrix is ready for the future. ‘2015 was a great year for us and we saw a significant increase in take up of our technology, particularly in production. The above stated case is another example of flow taking its position as a cleaner, greener alternative manufacturing technique’, comments Dr. Wiles. ‘With the new Plantrix® MR555 Industrial Reactor (400 l/h) introduced at ACHEMA and the first systems in production, we forecast more industrial installations will be reported in 2016’. The ability to assist customers with implementation from lab (micro reactors) to production combined with process development services, training and engineering knowledge makes Chemtrix a reliable partner for many chemical and pharmaceutical companies. ‘We will continue to pioneer, building on our strong, long term relationships with our clients and we look forward to disclosing further details of this and upcoming projects’ concludes Dr. Wiles.
