Flipping marvellous scale-up with the right tools for the job!


If your family are anything like mine, then you need to take your chemistry scale-up principals home for any holiday that has a food based celebration but Pancake Day is always a big hit in the Asynt office too!  As our team grows we are having to make much bigger batches of pancake batter here to keep everyone happy!

For a really small quantity of batter it’s simplest to use one of the off-the-shelf bottle mixes that you just add water or milk to, pop a lid on, and shake for all you’re worth until the batter is nicely mixed.  However once you need a larger quantity that would be quite hard work!  We need to change the tools to get this job done!

Asynt scale up pancakes blog

So, we move onto a bigger bowl, perhaps an electric whisk, and careful measurement of the mathematically proportioned ingredients to be sure of the perfect pancake.  Anything less would be a crime!

It’s no different in the lab; we start with a small benchtop reaction in something like the DrySyn OCTO and a set of vials, maybe a 100ml flask on a DrySyn MULTI base, perhaps scale up to a 2L reaction in the DrySyn MAXI, and then in due course scale up to a 10L reaction in a gorgeous vessel on the ReactoMate ATOM support.  You might change your magnetic stirrer bars for a sturdy overhead stirrer with sufficient torque to do the business, and maybe add some baffles to your vessel! It’s all about using the right tools for the job!

Pancake scale up illustration from Asynt chemistry

Today though, it’s mostly about pancakes! :) We hope that you get to enjoy some of your favourite toppings and treats too!  If you’d like to reminisce with us in the meantime, you can see our amazing pancake art from last year HERE on our YouTube channel though.