Production-type microstructured reactor

Fig. 4 Production-type microstructured reactor for throughput at 1,700 kg h and transfer of a power of 100 kW. This apparatus was used for manufacture of a high-value product for plastics industry at DSM in Linz/Austria [17]...

Production-type microstructured reactors and plants and how to operate them (see, e.g.. Refs. [12, 20-22]). 

In a multiphase membrane reactor, the conversion of benzylpenicillin to 6-aminopenidllinic acid is performed. The type of microstructured reactor used is a fermentation reactor which contains the enzyme penicillin acylase immobilized on the wall of a hollow-fiber tube. The hollow-fiber tube extracts 6-aminopenicillinic acid at the same time selectively. Benzylpenicillin is converted at the outer wall of the hollow fiber into the desired product, which passes into the sweep stream inside the fiber where it can be purified, e.g. by ion exchange. The non-converted benzylpenicillin is recycled back through the reactor [84],... 

The fluorination of quinoline was performed in a microstructured reactor operated in the annular-flow regime, which contained one microchannel with two consecutive feeds for gas and liquid [311,312]. The role of the solvent was large. The reaction was totally unselective in acetonitrile and gave only tarlike products. With formic acid, a mixture of mono- and polyfluorinated products besides tar was formed. No tar formation was observed with concentrated sulfuric acid as solvent at 0-5 °C. In this way, a high selectivity of about 91% at medium conversion was achieved. Substitution was effective only in the electron-rich benzenoid core and not in the electron-poor pyridine-type core. The reactivity at the various positions in the quinoline molecule is 5 > 8 > 6 and thus driven by the vicinity to the heteroatom nitrogen that corresponds to the electrophilic reactivity known from proton/deuterium exchange studies in strong acid media. 

The most convincing tests of the new tool microstructured reactor and new type of processing, named chemical micro process engineering, are real-life applications. Some new examples are given below, either with IMM involved as research entity or with IMM tools being used. The next subsection gives the first examples of industrial case studies for chemical production, either with IMM or other suppliers tools. There are certainly more such examples, some of which are known to the authors however, these have to remain confidential at present, although some may be made public in the near future. Several subsequent subsections present IMM in-house process developments that were made to be launched to clients. 

The characteristic features of microsystems stem from the small size of the space in the microstructures. Therefore, microsystems are not necessarily small systems in total size. They can be large in total size as long as they contain microstructures that can be used for chemical reactions. This sharply contrasts with the concept of a lab-on-a-chip, which should be small in total size. It is also important to note that microsystems are normally set up as flow-type reactors with a constant flow of solutions through a microstructured reaction chamber or channel. Although the reactor s capacity at any one time is small, total production capacity over time is much greater than may be imagined. Therefore, microflow systems are not necessarily used solely to produce small quantities of chemical substances. In fact, a microfluidic device has been developed that fits in the palm of the hand but can produce several tons of a product per year (see Chapter 10). 

Our research is focused on the control of both the microstructure and the architecture of perovskite-type mixed-conducting reactors for high temperature applications, especially for oxygen separation from air and syngas production. 

Emulsion polymers are products-by-process whose microstructure and properties are determined during the polymerization. Therefore, the reactor type, the operation mode, and the control strategy play a key role in achieving an efficient, safe, and consistent production of high-quality emulsion polymers. 

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