Social Acceptance via Education and Awareness

The fact that the control circuit for micro chemical processing has not been established, as outlined in Section 1.7.1, can be seen as chance to have a deep, positive impact on society in a way not known before. Education and awareness of the technology can be used as one main driver for developing such circuit. 

However, it is not only knowledge transfer on the technology itself which impacts on society microchemical processing wiU have repercussions on our wealth, health, and environment. From the late 1960s (first prognoses on limits of production 

In this context, Benson and Ponton declare that while the chemical industry has made considerable achievements in reactor performance, safety and control, comparable to those in the microelectronics business, this success is by no means evident to the public, in deep contrast to the latter [139], It is said that this is mainly and in a way simply due to the visual recognition of chemical production plants. From a distance and for somebody outside the field, the chemical plants of the late 1940s and the early 1990s look virtually similar, whereas one is able immediately to see the big differences in, e.g., television sets and automobiles. Hence it is not evident that notable improvements were made over the decades. 

Nonetheless, no change will happen without external stimuli. Benson and Ponton list the following  

Benson and Ponton propose, based on this analysis, the concept of distributed manufacturing [139, 145], which will be referred to in detail in Volume 2 of this book series. Basically, they refer to small, transportable plants which are fed with reactants over the fence , hence using only non-hazardous, generally available materials by normal piping or standard transport. If an aggressive chemical is needed, it has to be made from environmentally friendly base materials as an intermediate on-site. Needless to say, effluents have to be completely harmless, plant operation has to be intrinsically safe, and the plant should be clean and quiet. 

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