Process intensification Introduction

In the context of sustainable development, environmental protection and market globalization, there is a pressing demand that combines both a market pull and a technology push. The answer is provided by process intensification, defined as "producing much more and better while consuming much less", either by using new operating modes with existing equipment, or by using new equipment based on scientific principles that lead to new modes or scales of production for products targeted by increasingly demanding consumers.

Process intensification can be carried out :

• with multifunctional equipment and reactors (hybridization of unit operations);

• with microstructured reactors;

• with new production processes;

• using green chemistry reaction media;

• with intensified chemistry in microstructured reactors for which heat and matter transfer phenomena are perfectly controlled in novel process windows.

This can lead to cumulative savings of 30% in raw materials, energy and operating costs, but there are a number of major obstacles to overcome if process intensification methodology and technologies are to become even more widespread than they are today.

All these considerations will justify the publication of articles on process intensification in a new section of Techniques de l'Ingénieur.