Miniplant automation

The choice of automation stage is decided during the miniplant design phase on the basis of the specific plant requirements and boundary conditions as well as on the results of trials. The higher automation Stages 3 and 4 are only justified if a miniplant is to be operated over a long period of time. 

A miniplant has been built at Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). It is a flexible system consisting of reactors, separation units, recycles, necessary pumps, piping and automation. The system has been used in the verification of mathematical process models and in the development of and the NExOCTANE dimerization process. Several runs have been performed and the targets were successfully achieved. 

A detailed kinetic modeling and reactor parameter study was carried out on KR of l-methoxy-2-propanol (rac-23f) with vinyl acetate using a PBR filled with immobilized CaLB [117]. The model simulation was validated in a fully automated modular miniplant and was shown to be capable of predicting the key parameters of a KR such as enantiomeric excess and the extent of conversion at a given superficial velocity. 

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