Blair Richard G, Chagoya Katerina, Biltek Scott, Jackson Steven, Sinclair Ashlyn, Taraboletti Alexandra, Restrepo David T
University of Central Florida, NanoScience Technology Center, 12424 Research Parkway Suite 400, Orlando, FL 32826-3250, USA.
Faraday Discuss. 2014;170:223-33. doi: 10.1039/c4fd00007b.
Mechanochemical approaches to chemical synthesis offer the promise of improved yields, new reaction pathways and greener syntheses. Scaling these syntheses is a crucial step toward realizing a commercially viable process. Although much work has been performed on laboratory-scale investigations little has been done to move these approaches toward industrially relevant scales. Moving reactions from shaker-type mills and planetary-type mills to scalable solutions can present a challenge. We have investigated scalability through discrete element models, thermal monitoring and reactor design. We have found that impact forces and macroscopic mixing are important factors in implementing a truly scalable process. These observations have allowed us to scale reactions from a few grams to several hundred grams and we have successfully implemented scalable solutions for the mechanocatalytic conversion of cellulose to value-added compounds and the synthesis of edge functionalized graphene.
化学合成的机械化学方法有望提高产率、开辟新的反应途径并实现更绿色的合成。扩大这些合成规模是实现商业可行工艺的关键一步。尽管在实验室规模的研究方面已经开展了大量工作，但在将这些方法扩大到工业相关规模方面却做得很少。将反应从摇床式磨机和行星式磨机转移到可扩展的解决方案可能会带来挑战。我们通过离散元模型、热监测和反应器设计研究了可扩展性。我们发现，冲击力和宏观混合是实现真正可扩展工艺的重要因素。这些观察结果使我们能够将反应规模从几克扩大到几百克，并且我们已经成功实现了将纤维素机械催化转化为增值化合物以及合成边缘功能化石墨烯的可扩展解决方案。
