Reattori

Definition of a reactor vessel

A reactor is a stainless-steel vessel that is specially designed to carry out chemical reactions, hence the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Reactors have the following special design features:

• Double jacket for heating / cooling: this allows to control the process heat inside the reactor
• Working pressure: depending on the reaction, overpressure or underpressure can arise inside the vessel
• Agitation: a reaction often arises by combining different raw materials, which then need to be homogenized through an appropriate agitator

Which reactor vessel types exist?

The design characteristics of a reactor are primarily determined by the basic parameters of the substances to be processed inside. The following reactor types can be distinguished:

• Chemical reactor: i.e. designed for the processing of polymers - such reaction vessels have a powerful stirrer for high viscosity applications, massive wall thicknesses, dished bottoms, half-coil pipes around the cylindrical part and lower bottom and are installed either on support brackets or on four solid legs
• Pharmaceutical reactor: i.e. for the processing of sterile active ingredients – depending on the size the reactor is mounted on wheels or positioned on legs and needs to fulfil the highest qualitative standards in terms of manufacturing quality, surface roughness and technical documentation
• Bioreactor / fermenter: primarily designed to cultivate organisms or cells in the biotechnological or in the pharmaceutical industries, therefore, with the highest demands on sterility and purity

Due to the often-involved high temperature levels and demanding process handling, stainless steel reactors are often manufactured in highly resistant stainless-steel grades, such as AISI 316, AISI 316L or AISI 316 Ti.  

Those parts not in contact with the product (i.e. legs, dimple jacket, insulation jacket) are often manufactured in AISI 304. For particularly critical applications, enameled reactors (glass-coated), titanium reactors or hastelloy reactors remain to be a option of choice. 

Which mixing technology can be used in a reactor vessel?

Basic stirring tasks of a reactor vessel can include homogenizing, suspending, dispersing, emulsifying and gassing, depending on the viscosity of the product before and after the reaction. The following stirring elements and impellers are particularly suitable for the respective stirring tasks: 

• propeller stirrer: well suited for simple homogenization of aqueous substances such as solvents, as a directly driven high-speed mixer or with lower speed though a geared motor for more gentle mixing (e.g. milk or dairy products)
• anchor agitator / frame stirrer: slow-speed, anchor-shaped agitator for highly viscous substances, i.e. adhesives, resins or silicones
• blade stirrer: slow-speed geared agitator with blade-shaped agitator elements, for a gentle homogenization of low- to medium-viscous products, such as paints, coatings or shampoo
• pitched-blade impeller: 4-blade impeller element, installed at a 45° angle, suitable for homogenizing, dispersing, suspending and degassing with a comparatively high-power input
• dissolver: support plate with tooth-like circumferencing elements, the dissolver generates high shear forces and is suitable for dispersion, emulsification or wet milling (e.g. printing inks, pigment pastes or plasters)
• cup stirrer: slow-speed cone shaped cups, particularly suitable for the gentle homogenization and degassing of aqueous to viscous substances, without shear forces (e.g. soap, oils, lotions, shampoo)
• jetstream-mixer: fast-running rotor-stator agitator, for very fast homogenization without air entry and sedimentation
• Magnetic stirrer: installed in the bottom of the tank, designed for aseptic mixing applications and very small amounts of product to be mixed (e.g. eye drops, active ingredients, laboratory tests)

Benefits of second-hand reactor vessels

Used reactors are immediately available from our stock and can be shipped worldwide. Due to our large stock of high-quality used stainless-steel reactor vessels from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, we can offer a suitable reactor option for almost any field of application. Custom-made new reactors, in contrast, often come with a lead time of about 12 months due to the large manual workload and various sub suppliers that are involved.

Also, the required investment in a second-hand reactor tank is significantly less than an equivalent new reactor vessel. This is especially the case when particularly high temperatures (i.e. up to 300°C), pressure levels above 6.0 bar or complex agitator technology are required, such as a coaxial agitator or a wall-scraping anchor stirrers. Used reactors are often already equipped with measurement and control technology or have load cells mounted below the legs. These otherwise very expensive accessories are often included in a second-hand reactor without additional cost.

Since our used reactors are almost exclusively sourced from German-speaking countries, they mostly come from well-known manufacturers such as Hagemann, Diessel, Seitz or Waldner. This ensures a long operational life expectancy based on superb material processing and manufacturing quality.

Brand new custom-made reactor vessels

With over 50 years of experience in vessel and tank construction, Behälter KG is at your side as knowledgeable partner for made-to-measure stainless steel reactors. We would be happy to provide you with an individual offer for your reactor needs, please contact us by phone or via ourcontact form.

Our manufacturing capabilities range from smaller pharma-grade reactor tanks up to larger chemical reactor vessels, with made-to-measure mixing technology (if required also ATEX). We are looking forward to hearing from you!