Microreactors small-scale production units

Microreactors are miniaturized reaction systems with fluid channels of very small dimensions, perhaps 0.05 to 1 mm. They are a relatively new development, and at present are used mainly for analytical systems. However, microreactor systems could be useful for small-scale production units, for the following reasons ... 

A second field of application may be in the on-site and on-demand production [3,8,25]. A number of chemicals, especially those which are explosive or toxic, can not be efficiently produced at present on a medium or small scale, although large-scale processes exist. A parallelization of several microreactor units could synthesize flexible amounts of chemicals and may even allow a transport of the reaction units if desired. 

MicroChannel reactors have some significant drawbacks. The most troublesome is clogging of the channels via incoming particulate matter or from fouling during the reaction process. Robustness is another common problem with microreactors. Because the unit is made at such a small internal scale, the resistance to mechanical shock is low. These issues usually render the microchannel reactor unsuitable for reactions that have precipitates as a product. For the Prox reaction, microchannel reactors are suitable provided there is no water condensation and the incoming reformate is particulate free, especially from carbon. Since microchannel reactors are often made from substrates that include stainless steel, Hastelloy, glass, silicon, polymers, and ceramics, another issue that could arise is chemical compatibility. 

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