Heterogeneous Catalysis / Hydrogenation

Features

Important Features:

• Direct scalability from Lab to Plant scale
  Our devices are directly scalable from lab to pilot to production due to the scaling geometry factor which maintains residence time and performance constant across scales.
• Modularity & Configuration Customization
  The reactor components (“blocks”) are modular layers which can be arranged in a custom order to build the perfect reactor configuration (“tower”) for any type of chemistry.
• Safe Continuous Operation
  Our devices drastically reduce dead volume making the process safer while minimizing footprint and reagents consumption.
• High Efficiency & Control
  Our devices can boost performance due to optimal heat and mass transfer. This allows to improve catalyst usage and eliminate hot spots.

Other Advantages:

• Cost effective
  Our devices come at a lower price than competing technologies. Our devices also reduce your operating costs thanks to minimal maintenance and highly efficient performance.
• Excellent chemical compatibility
  Machined in materials with excellent chemical resistance, Zaiput reactors work with a wide range of organic solvents, in both acidic and basic solutions.
• Breadth of Scope
  Our devices can be used with any type of catalytic powder, boosting yield and selectivity, as well as productivity.
  They are also suitable for any catalytic reaction process, from bulk to high-value chemical industries.
• Pressure rating
  The metal design allows Zaiput reactors to be used in-line with a pressurized process (up to 35 Bar).
• Easy usage and maintenance
  Plug and play functionality at all scales.

How It Works

Zaiput Flow Technologies’ patented TWR reactor allows to carry out continuous heterogenous catalysis reactions (usually gas-liquid-solid catalyst, ex. hydrogenations) by optimizing the flow distribution of the reagents through the device while maximizing catalyst utilization.

• The two inlet streams (usually one liquid and one gas) enter the reactor at the bottom where they are mixed and distributed uniformly in the effective cross-section of the reactor.
• By stacking different modules, such as MixoCart mixing cartridges, PackoCat catalytic cartridges, and heat exchanger modules, the reagents travel upward to a customized reactor configuration which can be optimized for a specific chemistry.
• Reaction will happen in the PackoCat catalytic layers, while mixing and heat exchange modules guarantee tight and efficient control over the reaction process.
• The internal structure of the reactor components enhances mixing and mass transfer while maintaining plug flow characteristics. By flowing the reagents through the PackoCat catalytic layer (rather than by) improves performance by lowering the characteristic length for mass transfer.
• The reactor is also designed to maintain a constant temperature inside even when conditions are fluctuating.
• The fluids then exit the reactor on the top from the outlet piece.

Heat Transfer

With Zaiput TWR, heat is removed axially, rather than radially.

This solves one of the major issues when scaling up traditional flow reactors, where the larger the bed radius, the larger the heat transfer length scale, leading potentially to hot spots.

With Zaiput TWR, you eliminate the risk of hot spots even at larger scales

Pressure Drop

Unlike Packed Bed Reactors, the Zaiput TWR reactor can be scaled by increasing reactor area rather than bed length, maintaining consistent hydrodynamics and minimizing scale-up risk.

In the study below, the Zaiput TWR was compared with a traditional Packed Bed Reactor using the same catalyst, catalyst loading, and reaction conditions. While both achieved 99% yield, the TWR delivered approximately 36× lower pressure drop (0.4 bar vs. 15 bar) thanks to its stacked shallow-layer design, which shortens the flow path and reduces fluid velocity.

This lower pressure drop enables higher flow rates, allows the use of catalyst forms originally developed for batch processes without re-engineering, and makes scale-up more predictable.

Read more about this study clicking here

Scalability

With the Zaiput TWR, scale-up is achieved by increasing the reactor cross-sectional area while keeping the reactor height unchanged.

As a result, increasing both the cross-sectional area and the flow rate by the same factor (e.g., 10×) maintains the same velocity profile, and enabling consistent reactor performance across scales.

Catalyst Options

1: Packing your own catalyst (PackoCat)

Zaiput offers the possibility to use any of your own catalyst powder of choice inside our reactor. To do this, Zaiput has developed a “pack your own cartridge” concept where you can directly fill our PackoCat cartridges with your catalyst of choice and then place those catalytic cartridges inside the reactor.

Zaiput has designed a specific packing setup with an optimized procedure which allows you to have a user-friendly, repeatable, and systematic way to pack those cartridges.

2: Already packed cartridges

Zaiput provides pre-packaged cartridges for TWR-10 and TWR-100:

• 5% Pd/C
• 5% Pt/C
• Others

If you have any questions or would like to hear more about our PackoCat catalytic cartridges, contact us at support@zaiput.com

Applications

The Zaiput reactor can be used to carry out many different hydrogenation reactions, as well as other classes of heterogeneously catalyzed reactions.

Example reactions are:

• Deprotection
• Nitro reduction
• Double bond reduction
• Carbonyl reduction
• Deoxygenation
• Dehalogenation
• Oxygenation
• And more

Zaiput reactor allows to carry out these reactions in a small, confined space with minimal head volume strongly improving on safety compared to batch approaches. Performance is also improved thanks to the substantial engineering design behind the reactor structure and its components.

Pressure drop comparison Zaiput TWR vs Packed Bed

Deprotection of 1-Z-Piperazine: residence time reduction from batch

Literature

Scientific articles featuring our reactor:

Breen, Sean & Barua, Purnima & Fang, Yuan-Qing & Ford, David & Hasan, Ali & Joshi, Manish & Mason, Sara & Nagy, Kevin & Quadery, Sifat & Russell, Grace & Nikolakis, Vladimiros & Holcombe, John & Adamo, Andrea & Milani, Lorenzo. (2025). A Continuous Hydrogenation Reactor Based on a Powdered Catalyst Enmeshed in an Expanded Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) Matrix. Organic Process Research & Development. 10.1021/acs.oprd.4c00303.

Specifications

Tower Reactor – Laboratory Scale

	Part Number	TWR-10
	Maximum Pressure	35 Bar (500 psi)
	Wetted Parts	316-SS or Nickel Alloy 718, PTFE, FFKM
	Liquid Flow Rate	~ 0.5-10 mL/min
	Max Temperature	200°C
	Gas Flow Rate	~ 20-500 sccm

*Scroll left to see more of the table

Tower Reactor – Pilot Scale

	Part Number	TWR-100
	Maximum Pressure	35 Bar (500 psi)
	Wetted Parts	316-SS or Nickel Alloy 718, PTFE, FFKM
	Liquid Flow Rate	~ 10-100 mL/min
	Max Temperature	200°C
	Gas Flow Rate	~ 300-5000 sccm

*Scroll left to see more of the table

Tower Reactor – Small Production Scale

	Part Number	TWR-1500
	Maximum Pressure	35 Bar (500 psi)
	Wetted Parts	316-SS or Nickel Alloy 718, PTFE, FFKM
	Liquid Flow Rate	~ 100-1500 mL/min
	Max Temperature	200°C
	Gas Flow Rate	~ 3-50 slm

*Scroll left to see more of the table

Tower Reactor – Large Production Scale

	Part Number	TWR-10K
	Maximum Pressure	35 Bar (500 psi)
	Wetted Parts	316-SS or Nickel alloy 718, PTFE, FFKM
	Liquid Flow Rate	~ 1-10 L/min
	Max Temperature	200°C
	Gas Flow Rate	~ 30-500 slm

*Scroll left to see more of the table

Ordering Information

FAQ

FAQs about Zaiput reactors