Chemical Micro Process Engineering: Processing and Plants

Micro process engineering is approaching both academia and industry. With the provision of micro devices, systems and whole plants by commercial suppliers, one main barrier for using these units has been eliminated.
This book focuses on processes and their plants rather than on devices: what is 'before', 'behind' and 'around' micro device fabrication - and gives a comprehensive and detailed overview on the micro-reactor plants and three topic-class applications which are mixing, fuel processing, and catalyst screening. Thus, the book reflects the current level of development from 'micro-reactor design' to 'micro-reactor process design'.

Table of Contents:
MIXING OF MISCIBLE FLUIDS
Mixing in Micro Spaces -
Drivers, Principles, Designs and Uses
Passive Mixing
- T-piece Mixing
- Multi-laminating Mixing
- Split-and-recombine Mixing
- Dean Mixing
- Chaotic Flow Mixing by Patterned Grooves
- Barrier-embedded Mixing
- Coanda-effect Mixing
- Recycle-flow Mixing
- Impinging-jet Mixing
Active Mixing
- Electrohydrodynamic Mixing
- Magnetohydrodynamic Mixing
- Ultrasonic Mixing
- Acoustic Microstreaming Mixing
MICROSTRUCTURED FUEL PROCESSORS FOR ENERGY GENERATION
Outline and Definitions
Design Concepts of Micro Structured Reactors for Fuel Processing
Micro Structured Test Reactors for Fuel Processing
Combustion in Micro Channels as Energy Source for Fuel Processors
Micro Structured Reactors for Gas Purification (CO Clean-up)
Integrated Micro Structured Reactor Fuel Processing Concepts
Comparison of Micro Structured Fuel Processor Systems with Conventional Technologies
Fabrication Techniques for Micro Structured Energy Generation Systems
Catalyst Coating Techniques for Micro Structures and Their Application in Fuel Processing
CATALYST SCREENING
Catalyst Preparation Methodology
Parallel Batch Screening Reactors
Screening Reactors for Steady Continuous Operation
Reactors for Transient/Dynamic Operation
Computational Evaluation Methods
MICROSTRUCTURED REACTOR PLANT CONCEPTS
Micro Reactor or Micro Structured Reactor Plant (MRP)
Applicable Principles for MRP Design
Process Conception and Economics
Early Concepts for MRP Design
Fluidic and Electrical Interconnects -- Device-to-Device and Device-to-World
Table-top Laboratory-scale Plants
Hybrid Plants
Mobile Plants
Production Plants
Plant Installations and Supplier-specific Assemblies
Process Management
Process Engineering
New Processes for Cost-efficient Reactor Manufactoring

About the Author :
Volker Hessel, born 1964, was appointed Vice Director R&D and Head of the Chemical Process Technology Department at the Institut fur Mikrotechnik Mainz GmbH (IMM) in 2002. His department focuses on mixing, fine chemistry, and energy generation by fuel processing using microstructured reactors. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Mainz on organic chemistry in 1993, investigating structure-property relations of supramolecular structures. After having been appointed Group Leader for Microreaction Technology at the IMM in 1996, he became Head of the newly founded Department of Microreaction Technology in 1999. He is author of more than 90 peer-reviewed publications in the field of organic chemistry and chemical micro process engineering, 200 papers in total, 3 books and 15 patents.

Holger Lowe, born in 1953, was appointed as Professor for Chemical Micro Process Technology at the Chemistry, Pharmaceutics and Earth Sciences Department of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in 2005. He studied chemistry at the University of Leipzig and obtained his Ph.D. on alkylation of phenols in 1984 after working as Research Group Leader at the Filmfabrik Wolffen from 1977 to 1984. The same year, he moved to the Faculty of Electrochemistry at the Technical University in Ilmenau, where he was Head of the Chemistry Section at the internal college. He joined the IMM in 1991. After becoming Leader of the Electrochemistry Group and subsequently, Head of the Chemistry/Microreaction Technology Department, he was appointed Director of R&D in 1999. He is author of more than 280 publications and 30 patents.

Andreas Muller has been working as manager of the Application Technology Department of KIEFEL Extrusion GmbH since 2004. He graduated from the Technical University of Darmstadt in mechanical and process engineering in 1993, then joined Lurgi-Zimmer AG as a process engineer and worked later as a R&D manager for the development of fiber extrusion plants. In 1999, he changed to the IMM, where he finished his Ph.D. in 2003. From 2001 to 2004, he was a group leader in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the same institute. He holds several patents, has published more than 20 contributions in refereed journals and conference proceedings, and is co-author of a book about catalyst screening.

Gunther Kolb, born 1963, was appointed Leader for Heterogeneous Catalysis and Process Engineering Group at the IMM in 2001. The group's activities are focused on fuel processing for fuel cells. He studied chemical engineering and obtained his Ph.D. in reaction engineering at the University of Erlangen in 1993, after which he joined the Federal Export Office in Eschborn to work on the implementation of the Chemical Weapon Convention. In 1995, he joined GRACE Davison Europe in Worms working as professional in the Catalyst Evaluation and Catalyst Development departments. He is the author of more than 20 publications in the fields of zeolite catalysis, supercritical fluids and fuel processing in microstructured devices.


Review :
From reviews to the project proposal:

'Dr. Hessel is regarded as one of the top three international experts in this field.'
(Ronald S. Besser, Louisiana Tech University, USA)

'... There is no book with such a strong engineering focus on the market. All authors the are internationally known for their work ...'
(S.J. Haswell, University of Hull, UK)

'The authors are leading in this field and have an outstanding international reputation.'
(Dr. Handa, BP Chemicals, UK)

'The reputation of the authors is very high, they are leading experts in the area of microtechnology.'
(Dr. Bayer, Siemens Axiva, Frankfurt/M., Germany)

'The authors are recognized and competent experts on the topic of microtechnology.'
(Prof. Honicke, TU Chemnitz, Germany)

"... provides state-of-the-art information...The authors are highly published and well-respected, and offer a good blend of academic and practical experience."
E-STREAMS

"This book certainly offers much information to researchers, production chemists, engineers, and even managers, who wish to use microdevices for their own work...it is 100% complementary to the 2004 book...here also the highly informative content, the detailed analysis of literature data, and the evaluation of existing micro-systems (characteristics that have become a signature from the IMM team) make this book a valuable day-by-day tool." Angewandte Chemie