Over recent years a new type of tubular plug flow reactor – the segmented flow tubular reactor (SFTR) – has been conceived and used in powder synthesis. They are of great interest for liquid-liquid reactions and powder production targets because they can be operated in a continuous mode and ensure controlled hydrodynamics, residence times, and reaction conditions. For powder synthesis the main tool used has been the SFTR which has proved its versatility and its robustness through the preparation of different products.

The use of droplet-based microfluidics proved to be a viable method for nanosized powders but has not been fully exploited with respect to the scale-out/-up and process intensification potential which reactors such as the SFTR possess.

Anne Aimable, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, investigated scale-out and process intensification for ultrafine CaCO₃, BaTiO₃, and nanosized ZnO powders, using a plug flow segmented fluid microreactor. Operational conditions were optimized using minibatch systems and the powder quality could be maintained throughout the scale-up or process intensification steps.

• Precipitation of Nanosized and Nanostructured Powders: Process Intensification and Scale-Out Using a Segmented Flow Tubular Reactor (SFTR)
  A. Aimable, N. Jongen, A. Testino, M. Donnet, J. Lemaître, H. Hofmann, P. Bowen
  Chem. Eng. Technol. 2011.
  DOI: 10.1002/ceat.201000324