Methods and Tools of Sustainable Industrial Chemistry Process Intensification

Methods and Tools of Sustainable Industrial Chemistry Process Intensification 

Ramshaw and his coworkers at ICI defined PI as a reduction in plant size by at least a factor 100. The choice of this factor is arbitrarily, but indicates the aim of a significant reduction in plant size. This reduction would significantly improve the process economics, by reducing fixed and operating capital costs. However, it will also allow implementation of the concept of modular design of chemical processes (see Chapter 1). 

A reduction in size means also a better controlled process and the managing of lower amounts of chemicals per reactor. In addition, microreactors often offer intrinsically safer operations [3]. In fact, with respect to conventional reactors, they offer a much better control of heat transfer (e.g., reduced possibility of runaway reactions) and a higher wall to volume ratio, which minimize the possibility of side radical reactions (e.g., of explosion). PI concepts are thus essential to develop inherently safe processes as well as energy efficient operations. 

PI encompasses not only the development of novel, more compact equipment but also the development of intensified methods of processing, such as the use of alternative energy sources [4]. In addition, one of the objectives of process intensification is to move away from batch processing to small continuous reactors. The better control of the reaction conditions often allows us to improve not only the 

Sustainable Industrial Processes. Edited by F. Cavani, G. Centi, S. Perathoner, and F. Trifiro Copyright 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim ISBN 978-3-527-31552-9 

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I 3 Methods and Tools of Sustainable Industrial Chemistry Process Intensification (a) Liquid inlet O... 

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