Snake reactor

L-Cysteine is a high value a-amino acid used world-wide in a scale of 1200-15001 year-1 as additive in foodstuffs, cosmetics or as intermediate or active agent (as antidote to several snake venoms) in the pharmaceutical industry. Chemical routes generally lack the efficiency of electrochemical techniques, or they produce mixtures of l- and d- forms rather than the L-isomer. The most common electrochemical route is the cathodic reduction of L-Cystine in acid (usually HC1) solution to produce the stable hydrochloride. In Table 10, the charateristic data for a laboratory bench, laboratory pilot and a product pilot reaction using a DEM filter press are compared [13]. A production scale study was carried out in a filterpress reactor divided by a cation exchange membrane with a total area of 10.5 m2. The typical product inventory was 450 kg/24-hour batch time. For more details see Ref. [13]. 

Figure 3. Plug-flow reactor for the Dimersol process. The finishing reactor ( the snake ) to comply with LPG specifications in the USA (less than 5 % olefins).

During 1947 a design of the process—water system was conceived and developed for construction of the MTF at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In the middle of 1949 the U. S. Navy Proving Ground in the Snake River Plains of Idaho was chosen as the Reactor Testing Station. With these fundamental data available, the design was redeveloped to suit the Idaho locality. 

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