Research Projects

Continuous manufacturing in the fine and specialty chemicals and pharmaceutical industry offers rapid synthesis, consistent product quality, and high efficiency over batch operation. However, solvent usage is high, requiring recycling and reuse, which is energy-intensive and results in 5% solvent loss in every cycle. To address this, reactive extrusion using screws can be carried out in near solvent-free conditions. Despite the robustness of screw designs, reliable design approaches for reactions and scale-up remain a knowledge gap. This project aims to explore the effects of screw designs, particle properties, the validity of the Arrhenius equation, mixing in systems with different particle sizes and shapes, mean residence time on screw design and rotation speed, and a quantitative data and design approach for predicting the influence of design parameters on overall conversion and yield for specific reactions at different scales of operation.