Chemistry Seminar - Continuous manufacturing of polymers and particles in ultrasonic microreactors

Title: Continuous manufacturing of polymers and particles in ultrasonic microreactors

Speaker: Professor Simon Kuhn (KU Leuven, Belgium)

Abstract: Small scale flow reactors have great advantages over conventional reactors, such as well-controlled flow patterns and increased surface-to-volume ratios, resulting in enhanced heat and mass transfer rates. Coupled with other benefits such as inherent safety allowing to perform reactions at elevated temperatures, pressures, or using highly reactive intermediates, they have become an attractive choice for the continuous manufacturing of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. However, these applications are still hindered by two important obstacles namely, weak convective mixing and issues regarding solids handling. Integrating ultrasound with small scale flow reactors has proven to be one of the more promising methods to address these issues. With selected examples, we will showcase the synergistic effect of ultrasound for particle synthesis, as well as electrochemical processes. Exploiting these synergistic effects results in novel reactor concepts which will support the shift in chemical manufacture towards green and sustainable processes based on renewable energy sources.

Biography: Simon Kuhn is a full Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at KU Leuven, where he has been a faculty member since 2014. Simon completed his PhD at ETH Zurich and his undergraduate studies at TU Munich. After a postdoctoral position at MIT, Simon joined University College London as an Assistant Professor before moving to Leuven in 2014. His research interests lie in the characterization of transport processes in (multiphase) flows using experiments and simulations, scaling-up micro- reaction systems, and design of novel flow reactors incorporating alternative activation modes (light, ultrasound, electrochemistry). He was awarded starting and consolidator grants by the European Research Council for his work on intensified flow reactors for multiphase reaction systems and particle synthesis.