This week in Barcelona, the 3D printed reactor was the winner of the innovation prize of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE).
Despite the different tensions that currently occur in the country, the 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering related to the announced prize as well as other events took place as planned.
The 3D printed clean reactor
The multinational chemical and engineering company, Air Liquide received an award for their industrial innovation, a 3D printed milli-structured heat exchanger reactor.
Called the process intensification award, it refers to “a chemical and process design approach that leads to substantially smaller, cleaner, safer and more energy-efficient process technology.”
The 3D printed tool “significantly increases the efficiency of hydrogen production” through steam reforming natural gas. In order to achieve this, excess steam reused provides the required head. Heat can thereafter be conducted between the hot process streams.
According to Air Liquide, the advanced reactor, “reduces operating costs by 20% and CO2 emissions by 12% compared with existing technology.”
For the EFCE panel, the French company expects the reactor to draw the attention of a great number of industries which require hydrogen, from oil and gas production, floating LNG, to household hydrogen microgeneration.
The reactor’s commercialization
It took about 3000 hours to the Air Liquide Paris Saclay research to produce a lab-scale version. The next step consists in the production of an industrial scale pilot. The plant will start-up for the first time towards the end of 2018.
Experts predict that the commercialization phase will start by 2020.
As for th prize, Matthieu Fin and Raphaël Faure received it on behalf of Air Liquide.
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