With our latest enhancements to the PDR, we continue to push the envelope in developing faster, more efficient tools that allow breakthrough polyolefin research to take place.
Sunnyvale, Calif. (PRWEB) October 03, 2013
Freeslate, Inc., the leading provider of high throughput research solutions, today announced updates to its Product Development Reactor (PDR), which mimics complicated multi-reactor cascade processes at a smaller scale. This allows users to automate the simultaneous preparation of multiple sophisticated polymer samples in quantities amenable to traditional product characterization and performance testing. The recent updates to the PDR reduce the time for typical headspace composition based feedback to approximately one minute, making it the most advanced high throughput research tool on the market for optimizing polymerization reactions with gas composition control.
“With our latest enhancements to the PDR, we continue to push the envelope in developing faster, more efficient tools that allow breakthrough polyolefin research to take place,” said John S. Senaldi, President and CEO of Freeslate. “Our market-leading technology offers researchers a capability that doesn’t exist at laboratory scale except with Freeslate equipment.”
Freeslate’s PDR was designed specifically to accelerate the process and product development phases for more complex multi-stage processes. Its eight individually controlled reactors have incorporated sampling and measurement of headspace concentrations of key reagents such as monomer, co-monomer, and hydrogen for each reactor simultaneously. These measurements allow for active feedback control of reaction composition with individually controlled feeds for up to three gases and two liquids simultaneously in each reactor. The PDR’s ability to run different process conditions simultaneously in each reactor allows researchers to achieve unmatched process control and rapid, broad screening.
The recent updates to Freeslate’s PDR greatly improve the composition based feedback cycle time, reducing it to approximately one minute for all eight reactors. This phenomenal response is achieved by utilizing robust industrial multi-channel process gas chromatographs for rapid separation and detection of individual gases from the complex mixture. This accurate and rapidly acquired analytical information allows tight control over the reaction composition and further enhances the quality of process information acquired by the PDR.
Combined with Freeslate Lab Execution and Analysis (LEA) software, the PDR integrates experiment design, multi-stage polymerization screening, process monitoring, and data analysis, maximizing productivity in research and development. Unlike any other parallel reactor on the market today, the Freeslate PDR enables up to eight experiments per run with operational temperature up to 120 degrees Celsius and pressure up to 80 bar. It also offers approximately 200 milliliters of liquid phase working volume per 450 milliliter reactor, affording more than 50 grams of polymer for product characterization and performance testing. Freeslate’s PDR can be used for gas, slurry, and bulk phase polymerization of ethylene and propylene. In addition, the PDR allows for pre-polymerization, as well as simulation of multi-reactor cascade polymerization processes such as those used to produce multi-modal polyethylene and impact polypropylene.
About Freeslate
Freeslate is a privately held company that provides products and related services for high throughput research. Based on its proprietary laboratory automation platforms, high throughput pressure reactors, and integrated Lab Execution and Analysis (LEA) software suite, the company enables dramatic gains in its customers’ productivity and innovation by delivering seamlessly integrated automation solutions. Freeslate leverages its scientific expertise through its team of Ph.D. scientists, engineers, and software developers with directly relevant experience in the industries it serves. Collaborating with customers for more than a decade, the business has provided high throughput research solutions for the pharmaceutical, chemical, and energy industries. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with direct sales and service in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.freeslate.com.