{"title":"Sustainability of flow chemistry and microreaction technology","authors":"","doi":"10.1039/d4gc01882f","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This critical review provides an overview of the sustainability outcomes associated with flow chemistry, as a new concept in process chemistry, and its related technology and engineering field, microreaction technology. This study is broad in scope and covers cost and life cycle assessment methodologies applied to flow chemistry. The present review differs from past studies by providing a mechanistic viewpoint, <em>i.e.</em>, starting by listing key levers (<em>e.g.</em> mass transfer), and then unravelling their impact on costs and life cycle, using reported flow chemistry studies as examples to underline the sustainability capability. This way, this review transitions from informing on how flow chemistry and microreactors can improve fundamental principles in chemical engineering and chemistry to their translation to improved sustainability. Gaps and opportunities in the reporting of microreactor/flow chemistry are identified. To put the reported achievements into perspective, a life cycle assessment (LCA) study is conducted that reports on the effects of the key levers, as identified in this study, for a flow chemistry reaction at the pilot scale, conducted at an industrial site (technology readiness level 4). This way, this study provides a quantitative forecast of what principally can be achieved when maximising the key levers, in terms of the individual LCA impact categories and their total average outcome.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":78,"journal":{"name":"Green Chemistry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":9.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/gc/d4gc01882f?page=search","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Green Chemistry","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/org/science/article/pii/S1463926224007428","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This critical review provides an overview of the sustainability outcomes associated with flow chemistry, as a new concept in process chemistry, and its related technology and engineering field, microreaction technology. This study is broad in scope and covers cost and life cycle assessment methodologies applied to flow chemistry. The present review differs from past studies by providing a mechanistic viewpoint, i.e., starting by listing key levers (e.g. mass transfer), and then unravelling their impact on costs and life cycle, using reported flow chemistry studies as examples to underline the sustainability capability. This way, this review transitions from informing on how flow chemistry and microreactors can improve fundamental principles in chemical engineering and chemistry to their translation to improved sustainability. Gaps and opportunities in the reporting of microreactor/flow chemistry are identified. To put the reported achievements into perspective, a life cycle assessment (LCA) study is conducted that reports on the effects of the key levers, as identified in this study, for a flow chemistry reaction at the pilot scale, conducted at an industrial site (technology readiness level 4). This way, this study provides a quantitative forecast of what principally can be achieved when maximising the key levers, in terms of the individual LCA impact categories and their total average outcome.
期刊介绍:
Green Chemistry is a journal that provides a unique forum for the publication of innovative research on the development of alternative green and sustainable technologies. The scope of Green Chemistry is based on the definition proposed by Anastas and Warner (Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, P T Anastas and J C Warner, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998), which defines green chemistry as the utilisation of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and application of chemical products. Green Chemistry aims to reduce the environmental impact of the chemical enterprise by developing a technology base that is inherently non-toxic to living things and the environment. The journal welcomes submissions on all aspects of research relating to this endeavor and publishes original and significant cutting-edge research that is likely to be of wide general appeal. For a work to be published, it must present a significant advance in green chemistry, including a comparison with existing methods and a demonstration of advantages over those methods.