CONTINUOUS REACTION CONVERSION PROCESS

Based on the success of the pilot plant design, Matrix Engineering provided the structural, mechanical and electrical engineering necessary for installing continuous reactors in phases while removing existing batch reactors. The resulting reacted slurry is a thick, corrosive, sticky substance in which build-up on the reactor side walls was a major obstacle to engineer around. Our team worked very closely with RP on developing an acid feed system into the reactor that would accomplish continuous washing of the reactor side walls. Great care was also taken in the layout of the reactors so the reacted sticky slurry would fall through a large diameter (cleanable) chute directly into the dryer below. Included in this project was a dense phase pneumatic transporter for conveying alumina to receiving hoppers above the new reactors. The continuous reactors were installed and batch reactors removed so not to interfere with production of a sold-out product. Continuous reactor redundancy was installed in the initial phase to gain experience and determine reliability of the new process before fully committing to the new process. As confidence was gained in the new process the existing batch reactors were replaced with the new continuous design. This was an engineering challenge due to spatial constraints and design flexibility to utilize batch and continuous systems simultaneously. Eventually all of the batch reactors were replaced and they now operate solely on the continuous reaction process. Matrix Engineering has continued to improve on the original reactor design to the current 3rd generation continuous reactor.