Continuous mixing direct product production

One of the advantages of the continuous stirred-tank reactor is the fact that it is ideally suited to autothermal operation. Feed-back of the reaction heat from products to reactants is indeed a feature inherent in the operation of a continuous stirred-tank reactor consisting of a single tank only, because fresh reactants are mixed directly into the products. An important, but less obvious, point about autothermal operation is the existence of two possible stable operating conditions. 

If it is necessary to masticate and break down the polymer at high temperature to obtain the required viscosity, then it is not possible to mix directly and extrude the product. However, with treads it is possible to use a continuous production method to do the final mixing of masterbatches and the shaping into a tread section. 

Loop reactors continuous flow reactors in which all or part of the product stream is recirculated to the reactor, either directly or mixed with a reactant supply stream. 

Growth and nucleation interact in a crystalliser in which both contribute to the final crystal size distribution (CSD) of the product. The importance of the population balance(37) is widely acknowledged. This is most easily appreciated by reference to the simple, idealised case of a mixed-suspension, mixed-product removal (MSMPR) crystalliser operated continuously in the steady state, where no crystals are present in the feed stream, all crystals are of the same shape, no crystals break down by attrition, and crystal growth rate is independent of crystal size. The crystal size distribution for steady state operation in terms of crystal size d and population density // (number of crystals per unit size per unit volume of the system), derived directly from the population balance over the system(37) is ... 

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