Innovating for sustainability: A perspective on the spinning mesh disc reactor's development path

Abstract

This perspective will demonstrate the development process and pathway to achieving scale-up for a novel technology, the Spinning Mesh Disc Reactor (SMDR). The SMDR is a modular and flexible technology that can produce a range of chemicals with reduced production times. It provides a pathway for the fine chemical/pharmaceutical industry to reach net zero through reducing energy demand and increasing resource efficiency. Key features of the SMDR are: (i) the reactor has a small footprint and can easily be transported where needed, allowing for flexibility, less material input, more localised supply chains and ease of applicability (ii) the catalyst is immobilized and can be reused saving both catalyst cost as well as downstream processing requirements, (iii) suitable for scale-up of reaction systems that have inherent low environmental footprint and therefore provide a sustainable option to replace resource intensive reactions currently used in Industry.