Flow chemistry—Microreaction technology comes of age

Over the past two decades, microreaction technology has matured from early devices and concepts to encompass a wide range of commercial equipment and applications. This evolution has been aided by the confluence of microreactor development and adoption of continuous flow technology in organic chemistry. This Perspective summarizes the current state-of-the art with focus on enabling technologies for reaction and separation equipment. Automation and optimization are highlighted as promising applications of microreactor technology. The move towards continuous processing in pharmaceutical manufacturing underscores increasing industrial interest in the technology. As an example, end-to-end fabrication of pharmaceuticals in a compact reconfigurable system illustrates the development of on-demand manufacturing units based on microreactors. The final section provides an outlook for the technology, including implementation challenges and integration with computational tools. AIChE J, 2017 © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 858–869, 2017