Microprocess pilot plant

Figure 5.18 Microprocess pilot plant for radical polymerization reaction (by courtesy of ACS) [54].

Figure 5.21 Microprocess pilot plant for halogen-lithium exchange process (by courtesy ofWiley-VCH Verlag GmbH) [57],...

Figure 9.23 Microprocess pilot plant for Swern-Moffat reaction (by courtesy of J.-l. Yoshida/University of Kyoto).

Figure n.17 Microprocess pilot plant for Grignard exchange reaction. Source Courtesy of ACS [70]. 

Figure 11.22 Microprocess pilot plant for Swern-Moffatt reaction. Source Courtesy of).-I. Yoshida, University of Kyoto.

Another pilot plant, developed by at Kyoto University, was used for the Grignard exchange reaction at the same productivity as the batch reactor (10 m3) by adding only four microflow systems of the present scale (Wakami and Yoshida 2006). A multitubular reactor is the core element of the microprocessing plant (see Fig. 17). Stable yields of approximately 95% could be demonstrated for a 24-h run. 

In 2004, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) gave microprocess engineering a research priority under its frame program Microsystems [46]. In 2005, six industrial cooperation projects were launched, supervised by the funding agency VDI/VDE-IT, which are described in detail in the following. The target is the development of pilot plants for different reactions in several application fields for... 

Within the German public funded project p.PRO.CHEM, a concept for a continuously operated modularly assembled flexible pilot plants for highly exothermic two-phase liquid-liquid or gas-liquid reactions will be developed and validated [48]. The plant features process intensifying microprocess technologies. A goal of the project is the demonstration of the technical and economic feasibility of the plant concept on pilot scale with selected model processes. 

For the Merck production case with the enolate synthesis performed as a microprocess step, flve parallel minimixers were sufficient [59]. For a polyacrylate pilot plant, 28 interdigital micromixers were connected, grouped into four groups each with eight micromixers [60]. 

Fig. 17. Multitubular reactor used for the Grignard exchange reaction pilot microprocess plant. (Courtesy of ACS)...

Fig. 19. a Yellow nano pigment pilot microprocess plant... 

Figure 5.9 Hydrogen peroxide synthesis pilot microprocess plant by courtesy of FMC Corporation in Princeton, USA, and Niyi Lawal/Stevens Institute) [41].

Figure 5.24 Top yellow nano pigment pilot microprocess plant. Bottom particle size spectra at various volume flows (by courtesy H. Maeta, Fuji) [59],...

Based on the unequivocal advantages of microprocess technology, a lot of companies started to study microstructured devices as tools for process intensification [14]. BASF, Bayer, Clariant, Degussa, DSM, Lonza, and Merck are among them and have also published some studies they had performed to investigate the applicability of microstructured devices for chemical production [17-20]. Several pilot- and production-scale applications of microreactors have also been reported. There are about 20 plants published in the literature and 30-40 plants estimated to be installed worldwide [21]. 

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