Evaluation and establishment of a cleaning protocol for the production of vanisal sodium and aspirin using a continuous oscillatory baffled reactor

The robustness and adaptability of a continuous oscillatory baffled reactor (COBR) in organic syntheses of vanisal sodium and aspirin were tested whilst meeting the stringent regulatory standards. In one week-long continuous operation, vanisal sodium was produced to a purity level of 99.94%, aspirin to a level of 99.57%. The loss of product during the cleaning process amounted to 0.001% and 0.005% for vanisal sodium and aspirin, respectively. The data of the continuous syntheses show that the operation of the COBR is robust and consistent throughout the week-long period. The cleaning stage that was used after each production campaign exhibited a first-order kinetics and was effective and efficient. © 2009 American Chemical Society.