Which Is the Problem to Be Solved ?
Batch processing, the most usual production scheme in the pharmaceutical and fine chemicals industries, presents important disadvantages:
- Low intensification
- Waste generation
- Risks associated to large volumes
- Problems in scale-up
Flow Processing as a Convenient Alternative
From the microfluidic to the mesofluidic scale, flow processing solves most of the problems associated to batch processing:
- Large productions can be achieved with small reactors (intensification)
- Production can be instantaneously adapted to needs
- Risks are minimized
- Waste is minimized
- Scale-up is straightforward
Flow techniques are slowly becoming mainstream practice. This entails that every day more and more labs, in academia or industry, possess a small collection of pumps and other related gadgets that a few years ago most chemists would have never dreamt of using. We can offer these chemists our know-how, expertise and technologies in this field to optimize your process.
Which are the Advantages of Flow Techniques?
Flow techniques present a series of advantages that make them a very convenient alternative for the production of organic compounds:
- Faster mixing
- Increased heat transfer (avoids exotherms and runaway reactions)
- Reactions with temperature-dependent selectivity issues are more easily controlled
- Improved safety profile (even in the worst case, the reacting volumes are so small that possible damages are limited)
- Process intensification (reduced footprint, increased sustainability profile)
- Flexible production
- Facilitates optimization of reaction conditions (saving time and volume of reagents)
- Amenable for automation
- Smart monitoring and in-line analysis
