Reactor concept for continuous reactions and extractions in supercritical fluids at minimum flow rates

Miniaturisation of continuous reactors for supercritical fluids is important to allow for the early on testing of catalysts under process conditions with smaller costs and lower environmental impact of experiments. A minimum scale reactor concept for the utilisation of supercritical fluids (SCF) as mobile phase is presented. The concept allows for the continuous and low pulsation dosage of SCF. This was demonstrated for carbon dioxide with flow rates of 1 up to 7 Ln h−1(2.5–13.8 g h−1). Results for long-term operation and in a reactive system for continuous catalytic hydrogenation are presented.