Laboratory Equipment

The laboratories, pilot plants, and manufacturing equipment at AVN are shared resources. For a comprehensive overview of AVN’s equipment, please explore the individual unit pages.

Pilot Plant Equipment | Specialty & Custom Chemical Manufacturing Equipment

AVN laboratories support the wide range of experimental and development activities pursued in the area of chemical process technology. Work areas in these labs are well-ventilated, having chemical hoods for conducting experiments with potentially hazardous materials. Many have been recently renovated with large floor-to-ceiling hoods.

Several laboratories are equipped with analytical instrumentation to support ongoing projects. The primary instruments in this lab are gas chromatographs (GC), high-performance liquid chromatographs (HPLC), infrared spectrometers (FTIR), a GC-mass spectrometer (GC/MS), and a UV/Vis spectrometer. These instruments are operated and results obtained through interfaces with laboratory computers.

Our laboratories utilize a Siemens PCS-7 process control system, which is the same system used in many commercial production facilities and has full SIL III capabilities with redundancy for process safety needs. AVN also utilizes an PI data historian to log process information from the DCS. When your team cannot be present for testing, AVN can offer clients secure, remote access to their data in real-time via the data historian and its graphical user interface.

Other laboratories are outfitted for processing inorganic materials, testing advanced membrane separations techniques, organic process research and development, and polymer development. Equipment includes a variety of ovens, furnaces, pumps, an extensive collection of glassware, process control devices, distillation columns, vacuum pumps, pH meters, Karl-Fisher apparatus, and titrators. Other specialized equipment includes a high-intensity mixer, a platen press, high-magnification light microscopes, and an electrospinning device.

Our laboratories are also equipped with the following:

Stirred Reactors

  • Mini-bench scale reactors (<1 liter)
    • Multiple Parr reactors in the 300 to 600 mL range, SS and Hastelloy
  • Bench scale (1 – 20 liters)
    • 1-Liter reactors, SS (3)
    • 2-Liter reactor, SS
    • 1-Gallon reactors, SS (3)
    • 2-Gallon reactor, SS
    • 5-Gallon glass-lined reactor for low pressure service

Fixed Bed Reactors

  • Bench-Scale Fixed Bed Units (0.001 – 1 L of catalyst charge
    • Multiple reactors have been set up for small-scale testing in either gas or liquid phase service, typically constructed of piping by a local welding shop. A number of used reactors are available

Liquid-Liquid Extraction Columns

  • 1-inch x 20 inch Scheibel column, glass
  • 1.5-inch x 30 inch Scheibel column, glass
  • 2-inch x 10 ft Karr column, glass/PTFE/316 SS

Evaporation Equipment

  • Lab: 2-inch ID wiped film evaporator, glass, about ½ sq ft
  • Pilot: High-Vac wiped film evaporator, 12-inch, 4.2 sq ft, Hastelloy

Other Separation Capabilities

  • Crystallization: multiple glass lab-scale crystallizers from <1 liter to 50 liters, batch cooling/evaporative and continuous crystallization; also 1-inch and 2-inch falling-film crystallizers
  • Distillation: Dozens of distillation columns from 1-inch to 6-inch, some glass Oldershaw, some packed; also SS pressure reactive distillation columns.
    • B/R Instrument Corporation Model 36-100-45 SBA Spinning Band Column with 500 ml boiling flask and stirred heating mantle, automated with collection system, vacuum regulation
  • Membranes: 2.5 x 40-inch commercial membrane modules, RO, nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, microfiltration; ceramic membranes
  • Solid-liquid separations: lab pressure filters, basket centrifuges from 6-inch to 14-inch, pilot-scale decanting centrifuge, pilot-scale Nutsche filter