The iDeMO project will address the development and scale-up/ number-up of intensified
fluidic devices for multiphase operations. A case of continuous anti-solvent crystallisation is
selected as an example of typical multiphase operations. Performance of anti-solvent
crystallisation is controlled by mixing, residence time distribution, solid–liquid mass transfer
as well as nucleation and growth kinetics. It thus offers an interesting test case for the
intensified fluidic devices that are intended to replace ubiquitously used stirred tanks.
Two device platforms, namely, fluidic oscillator and vortex-based cavitation devices will be scaled up in this project to realize a demonstration process of anti-solvent crystallisation at a 1 kg/day scale. The paracetamol–methanol system will be used to demonstrate the performance of these two selected device platforms which will be benchmarked with reference to the performance of a standard stirred crystalliser.
The work will be completed in three phases:
(1) creating a reference case of continuous antisolvent crystallisation in the stirred tank;
(2) augmenting the performance of stirred tank crystallisation using fluidic devices; and
(3) using a combination of fluidic devices without using any stirred tank. Appropriate population balance models will be used to interpret experimental data generated across all three phases.
The objectives are to:
(Phase 1) Establish a reference case of anti-solvent crystallisation in a stirred tank. Characterise performance in terms of the crystal size distribution (CSD: mean and variance), yield (ratio of recovered solid product and added solute), and productivity (gm.L-1.h-1). Develop computational models to simulate the performance of stirred tank crystalliser. An existing stirred tank will be used for this purpose.
(Phase 2) Use fluidic devices in the external loop connected to the stirred tank to evaluate their influence on crystallizer performance. Solvent and anti-solvent streams will be introduced in the external loop just before the fluidic devices to improve mixing. Computational models developed in Phase 1 will be extended to cover these augmented experiments. The performance of the stirred tank augmented with fluidic devices will be quantified and compared with the reference case data obtained in Phase 1.
(Phase 3) Establish a continuous anti-solvent crystallisation set-up based on fluidic devices
without using the stirred tank. Appropriate scale-up strategies will be developed and used for
identifying the appropriate size and number of fluidic devices needed for realizing a
crystallization capacity of ~1 kg per day (40 gm.h-1). Computational models developed in
Phase 2 will be extended to cover these fluidic devices-based experiments. The performance
of intensified devices for anti-solvent crystallisation will be quantified and compared with the
reference case data obtained in Phase 1 (and Phase 2).
The following postdoctoral researcher is working on the iDeMO project.
