Recently, a collaboration between Dongying Vocational College and a chemical equipment enterprise has yielded a new laboratory reactor that tackles two major industry challenges—uneven heat transfer and internal coking—through an innovative annular-jacket flow guidance design and a dynamic self-cleaning system. The equipment has undergone multiple rounds of validation in petrochemical and plastic recycling applications, offering an efficient bridge from lab research to industrial production.

　　According to Professor Li Wei, lead R&D expert from the Chemical Engineering Department, traditional lab reactors often face two bottlenecks during fine chemical pilot tests: limited heat exchange area causing temperature fluctuations exceeding ±3°C, which affects product purity, and buildup of coke at the bottom when processing high-viscosity materials, reducing capacity and requiring frequent shutdowns for cleaning.

　　The newly developed reactor introduces an annular jacket structure with internal helical flow channels, combined with integrated welding, increasing the effective heat transfer area by 62%. Tests confirm a 40% improvement in heat exchange efficiency, with temperature variation controlled within ±0.8°C.

　　To address coking, the unit incorporates a speed-boosting circulation module and an adaptive scraping mechanism. As the impeller rotates, it drives cleaning components to remove residues from the reactor bottom. A multi-stage agitation system further optimizes material flow. In polyolefin degradation tests, the reactor ran continuously for 72 hours with no significant coking, extending maintenance intervals threefold and raising material conversion from 78% to 91%. Jiangsu Hangye Energy Technology Co., applying this technology, saw batch qualification rates for pesticide intermediate 2-chloroisonicotinamide rise from 89% to 98.5%.

　　The modular design also offers advantages in pilot-scale conversion. Shanghai Huotong Instruments customized a pilot reactor based on this technology for a biotech firm, integrating a Siemens PLC control system to automate 12 parameters including temperature and pressure. With mirror-finish interior polishing and dead-leg-free discharge valves, residual material in resin microsphere preparation fell below 0.1%, successfully translating a lab formula into an industrial process and cutting scale-up time by 50%.

　　“The ‘valley of death’ between lab and industry often lies in equipment compatibility,” noted Professor Li. The reactor has already received two utility model patents and is deployed in three petrochemical pilot lines. The next phase will incorporate IoT-based energy monitoring, aiming to reduce unit energy consumption by 25% in pharmaceutical intermediate synthesis. Companies such as Chengdu Ruichi Machinery have expressed interest in adopting the design for high-pressure reactor product lines, expanding applications into areas such as hydrogen energy catalyst preparation.