Micronit Microfluidics has developed a microreactor module that enables chemical companies to continuously perform fluid reactions on an industrial scale.
The module is currently been evaluated by DSM Pharmaceutical Products.
The microreactor is a monolithic glass module of 10 stacked reaction channels with a joint internal volume of 100 millilitres.
The module allows chemists to mix fluids, let them react and stop a reaction after a certain time.
The temperature of the reaction is actively cooled by integrated cooling channels.
Microreactor technology turns fluid reactions that have always been performed in small batches into continuous processes.
The switch from batch to continuous flow results in safer and more efficient chemical production.
The continuous flow reactors can also be scaled to obtain extra production capacity for a particular reaction.
Raf Reintjens, competence manager with DSM Pharmaceutical Products, said: 'Microreactor technology has been identified by DSM Pharmaceutical Products as a promising way of process intensification, significantly improving the sustainability of some production processes.
'The road to industrial applications requires a close collaboration with suppliers, as the scale up (parallelisation) turns out to be not simple.
'DSM Pharmaceutical Products sees Micronit as one of the suppliers that are capable of this.' Micronit Microfluidics has developed and manufactured microreactors for chip scale.
These lab-on-a-chips are often used in synthesis research.
