Optimized design of macro-microreactor for scale-up of liquid–liquid chemical processes

The scale-up of microreactor-based flow chemical process represents a grand challenge in chemical engineering. The small characteristic size (<1000 μm) of a typical microreactor leads to not only microscale effect (process intensification) but also low throughput. Here, we report macro-microreactor to achieve scale-up of liquid–liquid chemical operation with process intensification. By incorporating the designed internals based on computational fluid dynamics, the characteristic size of the macro-microreactor is expanded into 3000–4000 μm. The optimized design of macro-microreactor with helical-shaped internal exhibits both similar or even stronger microscale effect and high throughput in contrast to the typical microreactor. For the liquid–liquid chemical process, seven times higher mass transfer coefficient and about half reduction of the pressure drop are realized. These macro-microreactors would find further applications in industrial chemical manufacturing.