(23f) Economic Aspects of Microreactors in Production Scale Use

A lot of research has been done on micro
reaction technology. Some companies have started to use this technology on
production scale level. Two applications with throughputs higher than one ton
per hour have been started up recently. Several other applications with smaller
amounts have implemented. The examples have proofed technical feasibility. Some
of the success stories have been published resently. The next step is to
evaluate the economic impact.

Micro reaction technology is not
automatically an economic push. This shows the first known production scale
example of micro reaction technology. One of the eighteen steps have been
successfully carried out in a micro reactor. This technical successful
implementation do not turn the product into an economical product. The product
was shut down several years later.

Now first results from production scale
implementations can be presented. The economic impact of two main aims: energy
savings and debottlenecking of a production application will be demonstrated.