Ease and simplicity of reaction vessel exchange and process automation, convinces Dart Neuroscience to switch to Reactor-Ready and Pilot systems

Dart Neuroscience scientist

Contacts: Dr. Jing Liu, Scientist III

Organisation: Dart Neuroscience

Department: Process Chemistry

Country: USA

Product: Reactor Ready, Reactor Ready Pilot, AVA Software, Heidolph Overhead Stirrers, Huber Unistat, Huber Petit Fleur

Case Study No: CS1044

Situation

Previously, reactions of 250 ml to 5 L were carried out on standard jacketed reaction systems from a leading USA manufacturer. It was difficult to exchange different sized reactor vessels in the same frame. Therefore, it was necessary to invest in multiple complete systems with semi-permanently mounted vessels, each occupying a dedicated fume hood with a dedicated circulator. Generally only a few of the systems were used at any one time, so a high proportion of our investment was standing idle occupying precious lab space and circulators. In addition, all components of these reactor systems are manually controlled and valuable process data are not recorded. Finally, cleaning and re-assembly of reactors can be a time-consuming process.

Objectives

  • Facilitate chemistry research by automated process data logging with integrated hardware control.
  • Save lab space by having flexible reactor systems that can accommodate various sized vessels.
  • Improve scalability by using vessels and stirring elements that mimic pilot plant situations
  • Enhance the user experience by utilising new glassware and reactor frame designs

Results

  1. Dart Neurosciences originally invested in 2 x Reactor-Ready and 1 x Reactor-Ready Pilot systems with a selection of vacuum jacketed process vessels with volumes ranging from 250 ml to 10 L. The complete systems include software control, Heidolph stirrers, and Huber circulators.
  2. The user experience is much improved due to well-designed hardware. Exchange of reactor vessels is done routinely with ease. It is also very easy to replace and clean different parts thanks to the simple yet ingenious design of the stirring coupling mechanism. The vacuum jacketed vessels improve the performance of circulators. In addition, high temperature reactions are safer because the exterior of vessels is much cooler and low temperature reactions can be easily monitored without having to scrape off ice deposit. As a result, the Radleys systems have mostly replaced the previous brand in the lab.
  3. The following year Dart purchased an additional Reactor-Ready Pilot with 10 L vacuum jacketed process vessels and upgraded the software to the recently launched Radleys AVA Software (Level 4).
  4. AVA (Level 4) Software allows automatic data logging and integrated hardware control. Chemists are also able to conveniently design and analyse experiments on their office computers. The software generates reports that can be directly attached to electronic lab notebooks.
The Radleys Reactor-Ready systems incorporate many clever designs that greatly improve the user experience and AVA Software is a big step forward from the conventional way of manual control and lack of data logging.Dr. Jing Liu, Scientist III, Dart Neuroscience