Microreactors: Tools for Intensification of Chemistry

The impact on the environment, in terms of waste and energy consumption, has become a major issue under the pressure of European regulations, in particular with the entry into force of REACH, the regulation on the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals. All this in an increasingly tough market, where production costs are becoming a determining factor. To meet these challenges and speed up research, research teams and industry are turning to microreactors. They are used to test different synthesis routes in parallel, experimental conditions or the determination of kinetic or physico-chemical data, with appreciable time savings.

But this new tool also opens up industrial prospects. Syntheses that were previously forbidden or difficult are now possible. Pharmaceutical laboratories are beginning to equip themselves, although this will take time, as the integration of microreactors at industrial level requires a complete overhaul of the entire process. The switch to microreactors is a cultural change. Thanks to their parallelization, they will enable us to move more quickly from a research and development (R&D) process to an industrial scale.

The article [CHV 2 225] describes the advantages and disadvantages of lab-on-a-chip systems, followed by a state-of-the-art review of microsystems developed specifically for applications in elemental separative chemistry (salts, metals and radionuclides), for chemical and physicochemical process characterization, and for R&D intensification. The [CHV 2 226] article focuses on the design of these lab-on-a-chip systems, including basic functions and choice of materials. The operating principles of the separative microsystems are described, so that we can understand how they were dimensioned.

Traditionally, chemical reactions take place in large vessels, producing large quantities of substances simultaneously. These bulky reactors have a number of drawbacks. It is difficult to achieve uniform mixing or a constant temperature, and the process has to be stopped regularly to empty the tank. What's more, chemical reactions are often developed on a laboratory scale, but several problems arise...