Performic acid production systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11925914-B2
Application number	US-202117196357-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2021
Priority date	Mar 9, 2020
Publication date	Mar 12, 2024
Grant date	Mar 12, 2024

Abstract

Systems for producing performic acid and methods for producing performic acid. The systems may include two or more reactor units, two or more servient programmable logic controllers, a control panel, and a master programmable logic controller. The system may modify the production of performic acid in at least one of the two or more reactor units upon and/or after the occurrence of a disruptive event in order to maintain a desired level of performic acid production and/or a desired level of disinfection.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for producing performic acid, the system comprising:
two or more reactor units, wherein at least one reactor unit of the two or more reactor units comprises a water bath and one or more coils disposed in the water bath;
two or more servient programmable logic controllers (sPLCs), wherein each of the two or more sPLCs is in communication with a different reactor unit of the two or more reactor units;
a control panel comprising a master programmable logic controller (mPLC) in communication with the two or more sPLCs; and
an automation unit having a user interface, wherein the automation unit is in communication with the mPLC;
wherein (i) the mPLC, (ii) at least one of the two or more sPLCs, and (iii) at least one of the two or more reactor units, are configured to maintain a desired level of performic acid production upon and/or after the occurrence of a disruptive event, and
wherein the two or more sPLCs are configured to detect the disruptive event and communicate a status of the two or more reactor units to the mPLC.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the mPLC is configured to receive from the automation unit a first instruction comprising the desired level of performic acid production,
the mPLC is configured to receive a status of the two or more reactor units from each of the two or more sPLCs,
the mPLC is configured to send a second instruction, based on the desired level of performic acid production and the status of the two or more reactor units, to each of the two or more sPLCs upon and/or after the occurrence of the disruptive event, the second instruction comprising a modified fraction of the desired level of performic acid production, and
the sPLCs are configured to modify, based on the second instruction, an amount of performic acid produced by at least one of the two or more reactor units, such that a combined performic acid production of the two or more reactor units equals the desired level of performic acid production.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the two or more reactor units comprises two coils and at least one coil valve,
wherein a first coil having a first volume is configured to produce a first concentration of performic acid,
wherein a second coil having a second volume is configured to produce a second concentration of performic acid, wherein the second concentration is greater than the first concentration,
wherein the second volume is different than the first volume, and
wherein the at least one coil valve is configured to shift a supply of performic acid precursors from the first coil to the second coil, or vice-versa.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the two or more reactor units further comprises a plurality of coils and a plurality of coil valves,
wherein each coil of the plurality of coils has a coil volume,
wherein each coil volume is greater than, equal to, or lesser than every other coil volume,
wherein each coil volume is configured to produce a concentration of performic acid, and
wherein each coil valve of the plurality of coil valves is configured to shift a supply of performic acid precursors from one of the plurality of coils to a different one of the plurality of coils.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the two or more reactor units further comprises (i) a stirring element, (ii) a heating element, (iii) a cooling element, (iv) a water buffer tank, or (v) a combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 2 , further comprising:
a first source configured to supply hydrogen peroxide to each of the two or more reactor units; and
a second source configured to supply one or more acids to each of the two or more reactor units.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second source comprises one or more acids, the one or more acids comprising formic acid and a catalyst.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the catalyst comprises sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid, phosphoric acid, a salt thereof, or a combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the two or more reactor units further comprises:
a first buffer tank configured to store hydrogen peroxide supplied by the first source,
a second buffer tank configured to store the one or more acids supplied by the second source.

10. The system of claim 6 , further comprising:
two or more hydrogen peroxide pumps in communication with the two or more sPLCs, wherein each of the two or more hydrogen peroxide pumps is configured to control a flow rate of the hydrogen peroxide of the first source to at least one of the two or more reactor units; and
two or more acid pumps in communication with the two or more sPLCs, wherein each of the acid pumps is configured to control a flow rate of the one or more acids of the second source to at least one of the two or more reactor units.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein each of the two or more sPLCs is configured to send a third instruction to at least one of the two or more hydrogen peroxide pumps and to at least one of the two or more acid pumps in response to the second instruction from the mPLC, wherein the third instruction comprises a modified flow rate.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control panel further comprises a communications coupler in communication with the mPLC and the automation unit configured to employ a communication protocol.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control panel further comprises: a modem in communication with the mPLC; and
a cloud-based software platform in communication with the modem,
wherein, in response to receiving a status of at least one of the two or more reactor units from the mPLC, the cloud-based software platform is configured to facilitate (i) quality control, (ii) maintenance of the two or more reactor units, or (iii) a combination thereof in the event of a service need by coordinating support by a system manufacturer or a troubleshooting contractor.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises at least one standby reactor unit that produces zero performic acid prior to the occurrence of the disruptive event.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises at least one standby reactor unit that produces (i) a nominal level of performic acid prior to the occurrence of the disruptive event, and (ii) a non-nominal level of performic acid upon and/or after the occurrence of the disruptive event without a ramp-up period.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the two or more reactor units contributes a fraction of the desired level of performic acid production prior to the occurrence of the disruptive event.

17. The system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) in communication with (i) the control panel, (ii) the two or more reactor units, (iii) the two or more sPLCs, or (iv) a combination thereof.

18. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a product outlet configured to accept a product comprising performic acid from each of the two or more reactor units.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the disruptive event detected by the two or more sPLCs comprises (i) an unplanned failure of at least one of the two or more reactor units, (ii) a planned period of maintenance, (iii) a demand for an increased flow rate of performic acid, (iv) a demand for an increased concentration of performic acid, (v) a demand for a decreased flow rate of performic acid, (vi) a demand for a decreased concentration of performic acid, or (vii) a combination there

Assignees

• Kemira Oyj

Inventors

• Aubeuf-Prieur Patricia
• Porat Iris
• Stammegna Marco
• Greus Sampsa

Classifications

• B01J19/0033 Primary

  Optimalisation processes, i.e. processes with adaptive control systems (adaptive control systems per se G05B13/00) · CPC title

• B01J14/00 Primary

  Chemical processes in general for reacting liquids with liquids; Apparatus specially adapted therefor (B01J8/00, B01J19/08 take precedence) · CPC title

• B01J19/0013

  Controlling the temperature of the process · CPC title

• B01J19/245

  placed in series · CPC title

• B01J27/02

  Sulfur, selenium or tellurium; Compounds thereof · CPC title