(32e) Technical Experiences and Economic Aspects of Using Microreactors on Production Scale

A lot of research has been done on micro reaction technology. Some companies started to use this technology on production scale level. Microinnova transfers micro reaction technology into production scale. One Microinnova developed liquid-liquid application with a throughput of 3 tons per hour has been started up more than a year ago. Several others are in the engineering stage and will be started up in the next year. Scale-up experiments have already been done successfully for liquid-liquid applications as well as for liquid-gas applications. The examples have proofed technical feasibility. One of the success stories has been published recently. Technical advantages a next step is to evaluate the economic impact.

Results of more than one year production experience with a 3 tons per hour plant will be presented. Achievements and problems will be discussed in detail. The economic impact of two main aims: energy savings and debottlenecking of a production application will be demonstrated. The technical concept and economic impact of a liquid-gas project will be shown. The economic figures are compared with a conventional plant solution.

Finally some general remarks will be given, how to transfer lab scale results into production scale. Micro reaction technology will have an impact on the way of chemical and pharmaceutical production in the future. Some considerations to new strategies will be presented.