Process Intensification Principles: Structure – PI in the Spatial Domain

In this 60-minute webinar you’ll learn about the first of the four elementary domains of Process Intensification – the spatial domain. Structure is the keyword here as the various ways of structuring the space in the processing equipment are discussed.

Why Structure? Randomness accompanies the chemical processes at all scales. The Brownian motions are random in nature. Collisions between the molecules in a reactor have also a random character (unless special measures are undertaken). On the meso-scale, pores distribution in common porous materials (e.g. catalyst particles) exhibit a high degree of randomness due to the manufacturing techniques used.

Typical examples of the random systems on macro scale are beds of particulate catalysts in industrial catalytic reactors. Yet, structuring the space at different scales inside the processing equipment provides a number of important advantages that lead to Process Intensification and are discussed in detail in this webinar. You’ll review four categories of structures that respectively target molecular events, heat transfer, mass transfer or mixing and fluid flow. The structures discussed include:

• cage-type structures
• channels
• corrugated structures
• twisted/folded structures
• network-type structures
• fractal structures

This webinar is part of a 10-part webinar series sponsored by the RAPID Manufacturing Institute. Webinars are free to RAPID Members. Click here for more information about the PI Webinar series and to register for additional webinars in this series.