Patent ID: 7625526

Claim:
A reactor assembly comprising: at least one flow-through reactor for performing at least one chemical reaction, the flow-through reactor comprising: a reaction chamber, comprising a reaction zone, the reaction chamber being connected to at least one reactor inlet for at least one reactant, upstream of the reaction zone, and to at least one reactor outlet for the effluent stream from the reaction zone, downstream of the reaction zone, at least one analyser for subjecting the effluent stream to an analysing procedure, each reactor outlet being connected to said at least one analyser by an effluent conduit, wherein the reactor assembly comprises: at least one dilution fluid supply means, for adding at least one dilution liquid to the effluent stream, downstream of the reaction zone, a base block having a plurality of reactor chamber channels therein, each reactor chamber channel being accessible from a first face of the base block; a releasable cover element that covers the first face of the base block in operation of the reactor assembly; a plurality of tubular reaction chambers, each tubular reaction chamber having an inlet and an outlet at the opposite ends thereof, each tubular reaction chamber being accommodated within a corresponding reaction chamber channel of the base block and being removable therefrom; the cover element being provided with a plurality of reactant feed channels each in communication with an inlet of a tubular reaction chamber; a first sealing element being disposed between the first face of the base block and the cover at each first channel; and a second sealing element being disposed in the first channel between each tubular reaction chamber and the base block so as to separate an upstream portion of the reaction chamber channel in open communication with the reaction chamber inlet from a downstream portion of the reaction chamber channel in open communication with the reaction chamber outlet; wherein for each reaction chamber channel an effluent channel is formed in the base block, which effluent channel extends from the downstream portion of reaction chamber channel to a second face of the base block; and wherein the reactor assembly further includes a plurality of diluent fluid supply channels, each in fluid communication with a downstream portion of a reaction chamber channel.