Date: 26 March 2021 | Category: News
Dr Manuel Nuño of Vapourtec was a key speaker at CATCHEM 2021 exploring catalysis in flow, delivering a webinar entitled “Catalytic processes under continuous flow- Current trends and applications”.
The webinar series, organised by Scholars Conferences Ltd partnered with the open access journal Catalysis, focused on the role of new technologies in the fields of catalysis and chemical science.
Dr Manuel Nuño of Vapourtec took the opportunity to describe different approaches to perform catalysis in flow, highlighting what factors need to be considered when translating batch processes into flow.
Manuel commented: The scientific community is aware of some key benefits of flow chemistry, such as safety of running highly exothermic reactions, photochemistry or how easy it to run under superheating conditions.
Thanks to the versatility of our UV-150 photochemical reactor, photocatalysis is a well explored area in continuous flow. But when we attend conferences, we always get asked questions regarding “traditional” catalysis: “is it possible to use catalysis in flow with your system?” “how would it work?” “how can I translate my batch reaction to a catalysis in flow regime?”
My goal with this webinar was to explain how to translate batch catalysis into flow, what steps are required and what you can achieve. I covered all aspects of catalysis, from novel homogeneous electrocatalysis to heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenations.
When people think of heterogeneous catalysis in flow, fixed bed reactor seems to be the only option, but with our flow chemistry systems that is not the only way. I showed well-received examples of how we can pump catalytic slurries, or even the use copper reactors as catalyst for click chemistry!
Pictured above is Dr. Manuel Nuño, CSO at Vapourtec, he completed his PhD in photocatalysis at University of Bath, under the supervision of Dr Richard J. Ball. Before joining Vapourtec, Manuel worked as a process development chemist in food manufacturing industry improving industrial batch and flow processes.