Precipitation of Nanosized and Nanostructured Powders: Process Intensification and Scale‐Out Using a Segmented Flow Tubular Reactor (SFTR)

Abstract

Abstract The successful scale‐out and process intensification using a segmented flow tubular reactor (SFTR) for ultrafine CaCO 3 , BaTiO 3 , and nanosized ZnO from optimized minibatch (20 mL) conditions is presented. The capacity of the SFTR in process intensification was demonstrated by producing ∼ 5 kg batches of BaTiO 3 powders with excellent batch‐to‐batch reproducibility. The SFTR scale‐out or numbering‐up capacity was demonstrated for a nanostructured CaCO 3 in 500 g batches by scaling‐out from one to six segmented flow tubular reactors run in parallel (scale‐out/‐up ratio of 5000 compared to lab batch experiments). The SFTR was then used to demonstrate its potential for nanosized ZnO powders producing 50 g lots of these nanopowders in a continuous process, a scale‐out/‐up ratio of 250 compared to lab batch experiments without any loss of powder quality. The SFTR allows a precise control of precipitation conditions, leading to an excellent reproducibility in powder characteristics, and shows great promise as a simple production process of powders and advanced nanomaterials with highly controlled properties.