(358c) Microchannel Process Technology and Its Impact on Chemical Reaction Engineering

Microfabrication technologies are increasingly used in different fields of chemistry and chemical engineering to test and produce materials with capabilities exceeding those of conventional macroscopic systems. In addition to already demonstrated chemical and biological analysis applications, microfabricated chemical systems are expected to have a number of advantages for chemical synthesis, chemical kinetics studies, process development and chemical production. Chemical processing advantages from increased heat and mass transfer in small dimensions are demonstrated with gas, liquid, and multiphase reaction systems which lead to inherently safer and more benign designs. A number of examples will be given to demonstrate the benefits of this technology.