Issue 5, 2023

Will the next generation of chemical plants be in miniaturized flow reactors?

Abstract

For decades, a production paradigm based on centralized, stepwise, large scale processes has dominated the chemical industry horizon. While effective to meet an ever increasing demand for high value-added chemicals, the so-called macroscopic batch reactors are also associated with inherent weaknesses and threats; some of the most obvious ones were tragically illustrated over the past decades with major industrial disasters and impactful disruptions of advanced chemical supplies. The COVID pandemic has further emphasized that a change in paradigm was necessary to sustain chemical production with an increased safety, reliable supply chains and adaptable productivities. More than a decade of research and technology development has led to alternative and effective chemical processes relying on miniaturised flow reactors (a.k.a. micro and mesofluidic reactors). Such miniaturised reactors bear the potential to solve safety concerns and to improve the reliability of chemical supply chains. Will they initiate a new paradigm for a more localized, safe and reliable chemical production?

Graphical abstract: Will the next generation of chemical plants be in miniaturized flow reactors?

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
29 aug 2022
Accepted
07 okt 2022
First published
12 okt 2022

Lab Chip, 2023,23, 1349-1357

Will the next generation of chemical plants be in miniaturized flow reactors?

J. M. Monbaliu and J. Legros, Lab Chip, 2023, 23, 1349 DOI: 10.1039/D2LC00796G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements