Fine-chemical Microreactor Plants

Fig. 6.15 Fine chemical microreactor plant for laboratory- and pilot-range operation, completely assembled (lower image) and microreactor-system core (upper image). (Source IMM.)...

Stainless steel is the material of choice for process chemistry. Consequently, stainless steel microreactors have been developed that include complete reactor process plants and modular systems. Reactor configurations have been tailored from a set of micromixers, heat exchangers, and tube reactors. The dimensions of these reactor systems are generally larger than those of glass and silicon reactors. These meso-scale reactors are primarily of interest for pilot-plant and fine-chemical applications, but are rather large for synthetic laboratories interested in reaction screening. The commercially available CYTOS Lab system (CPC 2007), offers reactor sizes with an internal volume of 1.1 ml and 0.1 ml, and modular microreactor systems (internal reactor volumes 0.5 ml to... 

Fig. 6.2 Costs of typical microreactor items and services, given here for fine-chemical scenarios. (Source IMM.) For bulk processes, deviations to the upper limit are to be expected. The costs at the lower edge and medium range are known today the costs at the upper edge (production plants and chemical processes) were estimated from first evidence in respective first-hour contracts.

Fig. 6.14 Flow sheet of a fine chemical continuous-flow microreactor plant of table-top size for throughputs from 1 to 100 Lh . (Source IMM.)...

Microreactor Plant for the Large-scale Production of a Fine Chemical Intermediate a Technical Case Study... 

Some of the DSM products have been produced in campaigns for many years and therefore need a limited amount of special equipment. These products are often characterized by hazardous chemistry. A few years ago, microreactors were evaluated for such a manufacturing process in the DSM fine chemical plant at Linz. 

A Canadian firm, SBI Fine Chemicals, is out to prove that continuous microreactor techniques can also be used on a larger scale. For that purpose, SBI is building a biodiesel demonstration plant in Edmonton, Alberta, that can make 201 of the fuel per minute from a variety of vegetable oils [9]. 

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