ReacTUNE: Intelligent Reactor Design Optimization - from Concept to Production

In the chemical industry, reactors play an important role in process engineering. Developing and producing reactors with complex geometries usually takes months and requires profound expertise. ReacTUNE, software for intelligent reactor design optimization developed by Mertcan Kaya and Professor Christoph Klahn from the Institute for Micro Process Engineering at KIT (IMVT), reduces the time required for reactor design to 45 minutes. „It can be used to develop complex equipment quickly and efficiently even with little design knowledge,“ Klahn said. „Users simply specify their requirements and ReacTUNE uses them to calculate the optimum reactor geometry. The result is an industrystandard 3D printable file that can easily be produced with the appropriate production equipment.“ The process is enabled by a combination of computeraided design and numerical simulation. The researchers have already successfully used the software in methanol synthesis, and they have validated the process at laboratory scale in real conditions. Now they are expanding the software`s range of uses and planning a spin-off.