Start
Jan 06, 2011 - 16:00
End
Jan 06, 2011 - 17:30
Venue
Creativity Hall (Room No 118)
Event Type
Speaker
Dr. Ketan Pimparkar
Title
Development of a High Throughput Photochemical Microreactor System.
Abstract: A high throughput photochemical microreactor setup was developed as part of MIT’s Center for Methodology and Library Development (CMLD). UV transparent pyrex incorporated into a silicon microreactor simplified UV microreactor fabrication as compared to earlier reports and enabled higher temperature and pressures to be used. The devices so formed were validated using low pressure (0.8 W) Hg vapor lamps to carry out benchmark intra and intermolecular addition reactions. To increase yields a setup incorporating high pressure Hg vapor lamps (1 kW) was developed. The high heat output from these lamps presented unique design challenges and these were overcome using appropriate cooling techniques. High pressure capillary mercury lamps in conjunction with silicon based microchannel reactors allow photochemical reactions to proceed under residence times as low as 1 minute. Design and fabrication of the reactor system will be described along with preliminary results that highlight its utility as a synthesis tool. Quantum efficiency for the addition of methanol to limonene was found to be 0.2 emphasizing improvements over traditional reactor configurations. The performance of low and high pressure lamps for a given reaction will be compared and the increase in throughput on account of the high pressure lamps highlighted. Integration with an automated synthesis platform to allow high efficiency reaction screening will be described. Implementation of continuous manufacturing for direct fluorination and melt processing reactions will be discussed.Biography: Ketan Pimparkar • Received B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Marathwada University in 2001. • Received M. Chem. Engg. degree from UDCT in 2004 under guidance of Professor Dr. G. D. Yadav. Masters thesis involved work on solid acid catalyzed acylation reactions. • Received Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in May 2009 from Michigan State University under guidance of Professor Dennis Miller. Worked on hydrogenation of biorenewable feedstocks and development of novel reactors and processes for the same. • Worked as a PostDoc in the lab of Professor Klavs Jensen at MIT from Feb 2009 – Oct 2010. Dealt with development of photochemical microreactors and scale up of melt processing reactions.