Slurry reactor is a gas-liquid-solid reactor where particles act as the catalyst. It is very popular in many industries such as the energy and chemical industry, fine chemistry industry, sewage treatment. Separation and collection of catalyst particles from the slurry containing the final products are time and energy consuming. Process intensification technology of reaction and separation for slurry reactor is highly desired to reduce the cost.

Recently, a novel slurry reactor for the process intensification of gas-liquid reaction and solid-liquid separation was invented by the research team led by Prof. YANG Chao from Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In this novel slurry reactor wherein the processes of mixing, reaction and separation were coupled, an internal airlift loop reactor (IALR) and a hydrocyclone with low-energy costs for solid-liquid separation were successfully integrated.

In a tested pilot reactor, the slurry can be mixed well in the reactor due to the prominent advantage of directional flow in IALRs. The reaction in the liquid phase and mass transfer between the gas and the liquid phases are taken as well. Particle catalysts are first separated by the hydrocyclone in downcomer and then recirculated and uniformly suspended again from the underflow of hydrocyclone to the riser of IALR. The clear products in the liquid phase are simply obtained from the overflow of hydrocyclone. A glance of this new reactor during the experiments is shown in the following image.