Microtechnology-based equipment

In a general sense, the characterization of the performance of the microtechnology-based equipment is not a process analytical problem and is the responsibility of the hardware developer since there are many variables that need to be characterized for proper design and operation of the device. These include flow distribution to the multiple channels, chemical component mixing and heat transfer rates, to name just a few. For example, Schouten has demonstrated the care needed to characterize and model gas-phase reactor systems that he and his colleagues design (e.g. [6]). 

The advantage for the microtechnology-based equipment is that the high degree of compatibility means that inclusion of the analysis system from the start is very easy. 

Normally, filtering would also need to be done, but this seems to be less of a problem as the whole system requires particle control to avoid problems with the small chaimels in the microtechnology-based processing equipment. Still, some type of filter on the analytical stream is recommended as particles can originate from the sampling system itself... 

The high compatibility of microtechnology-based processing with process analytics means that not only is it very convenient to do process monitoring but also to study the chemical process with the equipment. Mills and coworkers [8] recently described a gas-phase microtechnology-based system for the characterization of catalysts. The integrated system that contains the process analytics needed for reaction characterization demonstrates that high-quality data can be obtained from laboratory-based systems. 

The key requirements of being modular, miniature and smart for this hardware concept make the hardware very compatible with microtechnology-based processing equipment. The major facet of the concept is that all components have a standard surface mount configuration, which was based on technology that was developed in... 

Another feature of the NeSSI approach is that since there is easy control of the flow path, it is possible to mount or connect the microtechnology-based processing equipment to the backbone system. This makes it easy to have the analyzer components in the system for analysis as soon as the reaction pathway is designed. Some users have actually integrated the chemical processing and the analyzer components on to the same NeSSI backbone system whereas others have just interconnected the two types of flow systems. Either approach makes it easy to have signiflcant flexibility available to characterize a reaction. 

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