Plant Modules

We design high performance plant based on variations of SN2's own Laboratory-Scale Supercritical-Fluids Plant. We use this plant for in-house research as well for clients' projects. The plant has been adapted for research into: biodiesel from vegetable oil, methanolysis of lignite, "precision" waste conversion (i.e. conversion to a valuable product), supercritical and subcritical oxidation and general research into catalysed reactions under extreme conditions.

The plant is an example of Intensified Processing. This relatively new term describes the use of factors such as:

• innovative equipment
• catalysts of high specificity
• the use of extreme process conditions typically high pressures and temperatures

Novel combinations of these factors lead to several benefits such as:

• smaller high-performance plant
• greater conversion rates and less waste
• avoidance of toxic or dangerous chemicals used in conventional processes

The new approach is sometimes coincident with so-called Green Chemistry.

We design plant modules based on these features, that can replace a standard or batch process in a conventional plant.

An SN2 module offers typically:

• significantly reduced size compared to existing batch processes, or improved capacity occupying the same space
• improved specificity of a desired product, with reduced purification costs in a process time of minutes rather than hours
• significantly reduced energy consumption owing to use of efficient heat exchangers
• significantly reduced emissions of odours and waste fluids owing to sealed operation
• the possibility of transforming a waste into a product that may be sold
• reduced labour owing to fully automated and instrumented continuous flow design

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