The Coflore® Agitated Tube Reactor (ATR) AM Technology’s Pilot Scale Flow Reactor. The Coflore ATR is an actively mixed, tubular flow reactor operating from 0.35L to 10L in reactor volume, which has been developed for the multi-kilogram production of material at the pilot scale.
Configured of up to eight reactor tubes in series, with two reactor tube sizes of either 0.35 mL or 1.25 mL in volume available, the Coflore ATR flow reactor exhibits plug flow performance equivalent to many tens of CSTRs in series, with experimental data demonstrating well-over 100 theoretical stages.
Each of the eight reactor tubes can be heated or cooled independently of each other. Reagents can be added, and samples removed, at each end of each reaction tube, with up to 16 temperature measurement points available.
The Coflore ATR can process a wide range of single- and multi- phase reaction mixtures including dense slurries without blocking, making it ideal for such processes as hydrogenation and Grignard reactions. Solids-dosing to the reactor can be fully automated, without the need for pumps in the process lines, for added ease-of-use and safety.
For a 5-minute residence time, the 10L Coflore ATR can continuously produce up to 120 L of material continuously per hour, or 2,880L continuously per day.
The Coflore ATR is a productive, versatile, and efficient plug flow reactor. Its unique mixing characteristics stem from the use of radial mechanical stirring rather than passive or diffusive mixing. This approach decouples plug flow and mixing from residence time, to give very low dispersion numbers, fast blending, and high shear.