Water pollution is one of many environmental problems that currently exists and inadequate treatment of industrial wastewater is contributing to further pollution. SpinChem AB's Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) technology offers the possibility of water treatment by carrying out reactions between a solution and a solid phase. To move further in the field of large scale water treatment, SpinChem AB developed a prototype of a mobile reactor, i.e. a raft, carrying the RBR technology. The prototype proved that a mobile reactor can greatly reduce the process time for larger water volumes compared to a stationary RBR. The aim of this thesis is to develop the next version of the mobile reactor, with increased operational stability and autonomous driving (autopilot) as main goals. This work covers all parts in the development of the new mobile reactor which involves design, simulation, construction, electronics, software implementations and testing. The presented mobile reactor is a twin hull surface vehicle with the possibility of using two RBRs for water treatment. The steering is based on differential motor thrust and the autonomous driving was achieved using sensor data from a GPS, magnetometer and accelerometer, together with a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) type control system. The autopilot was put to the test on two different travel routes with a P and PI controller. The mobile reactor successfully followed the given routes, thus verifying that the developed mobile reactor can be used for future autonomous large scale water treatment.

Recently, due to the unique properties and structures such as large geometric surface area, electrical conductivity and light weight, 3D structured carbon materials have been attracting extensive attention from scientists. Moreover, the materials, which can provide well-defined pathways for reactants to easily access active sites, are extremely useful for energy conversion as well as environmental and catalysis applications. To date, many precursors have been used for fabrication of 3D structured carbon materials including pitch, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and polymer foams. This thesis, as shown in the thesis title, focus on two main aspects: the study of the characteristics of melamine based carbon foam synthesized at different conditions and their applications. In paper I, it was revealed that through a simple, one-step pyrolysis process, flexible carbon foam synthesized from melamine foam (BasotectÒ, BASF) was obtained. Additionally, through a pyrolysis-activation process, activated carbon foam which possesses hydrophilic nature and high surface area was successfully synthesized. The characteristics of carbon foam such as the hydrophobic/hydrophilic nature, electrical conductivity, mechanical properties and surface chemistry were studied. It was shown that carbon foam could be successfully used as an absorbent in environmental applications e.g. removing of spill oil from water (paper I) or as support for heterogeneous catalysts, which in turn was used not only in gas phase reactions (paper I and IV) but also in an aqueous phase reaction (paper II). Importantly, when combined with a SpinChem® rotating bed reactor (SRBR) (paper II), the monolithic carbon foam/SRBR system brought more advantages than using the foam alone. Additionally, the work in paper III showed the potential of carbon foam in an energy conversion application as anode electrode substrate in alkaline water electrolysis. In summary, the versatility of the carbon foam has been proven through abovementioned lab scale studies and due to the simple, scalable and cost effective pyrolysis and activation processes used for the production, it has potential to be used in large-scale applications.

Peptide drugs are used to treat a broad spectrum of diseases such as cancer and HIV and have many more promising applications, such as new vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. The most popular manufacturing method for peptides is solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). The main drawback of SPPS is that it is a costly and wasteful process.  SpinChem is a company that provides technology solutions for chemical processes. Recently, SpinChem has started investigating if their Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) is suitable for peptide synthesis. The goal of this project is to investigate how the RBR can make processes like SPPS more resource-efficient. The idea is that the RBR-system can maximize the solid-phase to liquid ratio (STL). The STL is the ratio of the volume of solid-phase material and the volume of liquid. By maximizing the STL, it is possible to manufacture peptides using less solvents and chemicals. The main quest of the project is formulated into a single question:  How does a high STL affect the efficiency of the RBR-system?  To answer the question, Minitab's statistical software and design of experiments (DOE) will be used to plan and perform experiments in both lab- and industrial scales. DOE factorial experiments are used to gain as much information as possible about the new RBR-system. The results are analyzed and summarized to make a solid foundation for the continued work on the new RBR application.  Peptide synthesis efficiency in the RBR-system is measured using ionic adsorption. The ionic adsorption rate is measured in both lab-scale and industrial-scale experiments. In the lab-scale experiments, the decrease of ions was on average 86,5% after just 15 s with an average STL of 0,936. The industrial-scale experiments showed a similar result where the average decrease in ions was 92,9% after 20 s with an average STL of 0,947. It was concluded that the RBR-system can reduce the consumption of washing-solvent in SPPS by up to 82%.

In many technical applications chemical reactions are used. One of these is a so called decolorization, in which an ion exchange resin is used to remove a dye from water. To apply this decolorization technique a Rotating Bed Reactor, or RBR for short, can be used. It is filled with the ion exchange resin and spun inside the water. Whilst spinning, the reactor percolates the water, letting it interact with the ion exchange resin and thus removing the dye. This project aims to use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as a tool to create a model for the decolorization process when a RBR is used. The goal is to achieve a reaction model for the process that can be applied to various RBR models, i.e. scaled, to aid for example product development and research. A decolorization process in which methylene blue is removed from deionized water using a SpinChem S2 RBR inside a V2 vessel, using a NRW 1160 ion exchange resin, is investigated. Experiments are conducted where the concentration of methylene blue in deionized water is measured during the decolorization process using a transmittance probe. From the experimental results a linear regression model is fitted to achieve a model for the reaction's rate constant, determining its reaction rate, depending on the fluid velocity inside the RBR and the temperature of the fluid. CFD is used to find the flow field for different rotational speeds of the RBR inside the vessel. Using the steady-state flow field species transport simulations are done using the created reaction model. This is done to compare numerical simulations to experimental results. The results show that the created reaction model can predict the time taken to absorb the methylene blue onto the ion exchange resin. Deviations from the exact decay rate of methylene blue concentration is seen, and are concluded to come from conversion of global reaction rate in the vessel to local reaction rate inside the RBR. The reaction model has not been tested explicitly on other types of RBR, thus nothing can be said about its performance. However, care has been taken to not include any RBR geometry dependent parameters in the model.

Rotating bed reactors are used throughout the process industry. They are usedboth in the chemical industry and other industrial sectors, such as pharmaceuticals and the textile industry in decolorization due to by-products or contaminants.SpinChem AB manufactures rotary bed reactors (RBRs) to perform chemical reactions between liquids and solids. The solid material consists of spherical particles0.1 mm - 1 mm in diameter that are packed between two cylindrical spaces in theRBR. The goal of this project work is to determine the power number, the axial force thatthe RBRn experiences, the torque requirement on the motor and power consumptionof the the RBR when a fully developed turbulent flow is achieved. The purpose ofthe work is to optimize the technology from the energy usage point of view, makethe product simple and easily accessible for chemical and industrial processes as acontribution to the development of sustainable society. In order to achieve the purpose and goal of the projects, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) combined withexperimental models were used. Computation were made in COMSOL Multiphysicsfor two turbulence models. In it, the rotating machinery was used with moving meshtechnique for both the standard k−ε model and the SST k−ω turbulence models.The result is then compared with the empirical models. Investigation were done for two models of the rotating bed reactors (RBRs). Onemodel is called RBR S2 with relatively small size and RBR S14 which is a muchlarger version. For RBR S2 the experimental results turned out to be, an output ofpower number which is 3.4, torque requirement of 0.03 Nm, power consumption of3 W and a thrust force of 0.11 N. While the simulation results turned out to bean output of power number which is about 1.2, torque requirement of 0.013 Nm, apower consumption of 2 W and thrust force of 0.8 N. Similarly, the experimentalresult for RBR S14 was as follows. A power number of 0.53, torque requirement of0.41 Nm, power consumption of 6 W and a thrust force of 4.16 N. The simulationresults turned out to be, a power number of 0.34, torque requirement of 0,40 Nm,a power consumption of 4.14 W and thrust force of 3.61 N. With the help of the calculated power numbers, the power required to rotate theRBR can then be determined. Power number is determined when a fully developedturbulent flow is achieved. For RBRS2, a fully developed turbulent flow is achievedat Re = 2.8·104 and the angular velocity at that Reynolds number is about 830RPM. At that speed, the power is shown to be about 4 W for RBRS2. For RBRS14,a fully developed turbulent flow is achieved at Re = 1.5 · 105 and then the speed atthat Reynols number is about 83 RPM. The power need at that stage is shown tobe about 20 W. / Roterande bäddreaktorer används inom hela processindustrin. De används bådeinom den kemiska industrin och andra industriella sektor såsom, läkemedel och textilindustrin vid avfärgning på grund av biprodukter eller föroreningar. SpinChemAB tillverkar roterande bed reaktorer (RBR) för att utföra kemiska reaktioner mellan vätska och fasta material. Det fasta materialet består av sfäriska partiklar på0,1 mm - 1 mm i diameter som packas mellan två cylindrar i RBRn. Målet med detta projektarbete var att bestämma effekt nummer, effekt som krävsvid det effekt nummer, kravet på vridmoment från motorn samt den axiella kraftensom den roterande bäddreaktorn upplever när ett fullt utvecklat turbulent flöde uppnåtts. Syftet med arbetet var optimera teknologin ur energianvändningssynpunkt, göra den enkel och lättillgänglig för kemiska och industriella processer som ett bidragför hållbar samhällsutveckling. För att kunna uppnå syftet och målet med projekten användes, avancerade beräkningsmetoder i födes mekanik (CFD) i kombinationmed experimentella modeller. Beräkningar gjordes i COMSOL Multiphysics för tvåturbulenta modeller. I de användes roterande maskineriet med en medföljande mesh (moving mesh) för både standard k-ε modellen och SST k-ω modellen. Resultatet jämfördes sedan med de empiriska modellerna. Undersökningarna gjordes för två modeller av RBR. Ena modellen heter RBR S2med relativt små tillstorlek och RBR S14 som är mycket större version. För RBR S2visar den experimentella resultaten ett effekt nummer på 3,4, vridmoment på 0,03Nm, effekt förbrukning på 3 W och en axiellkraft ("thrust force") på 0,11 N. Simuleringsresultatet visar ett effekt nummer på 1,2, vridmoment på 0,013 Nm, effektförbrukning på 2 W och en axiellkraft på 0,8 N. För RBR S14 visade det experimentella resultatet ett effekt nummer på 0,53, vridmoment på 0,41 Nm, effektförbrukning på 6 W och en axiellkraft ("thrust force") på 4,16 N. Simuleringsresultatetvisade att effekt nummer var 0,34, vridmoment på 0,40 Nm, effektförbrukning på4,14 W och en axiellkraft på 3,61 N. Med hjälp av de framräknade effektnummer kan effekten som behövs rotera RBRnbestämmas. Effektnummer bestäms när ett fullt utvecklat turbulent flöde uppnåtts. För RBRS2 uppnås ett fullt utvecklat turbulent flöde vid Re = 2,8·04 och vinkelhastigheten är 830 RPM vid det Reynolds nummer. Effekten som krävs för att drivaRBRn vid det läge är ca 4 W för RBRS2. För RBRS14 uppnås ett fullt utvecklatturbulent flöde vid Re = 1,5·105 och då har vi en hastighet på 83 RPM. Vid denhastighet visas effekten vara ca 20 W.