Novel process windows, part 1: Boosted micro process technology

Novel Process Windows (NPW) is the use of highly intensified, unusual and typically harsh process conditions to boost micro process technology and flow chemistry for the production of high-added value fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, etc.. It is far from conventional processing and also from "normal" micro processing, and enables "flash chemistry" (1) via kinetic-chemistry means tailored to the capability of the microreactors, whereas the microprocessing on its own addresses mainly mass and heat transfer and safety issues. In this review, there are two parts introduced. In Part 1, we would like to give a short review on this subject and outline the coming research funded by the ERC Advanced Grant "Novel Process Windows" of Prof. Dr. Volker Hessel at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands. In Part 2, the details of the coming research in ERC Advanced Grant will be introduced. The grant, obtained in the end of 2010 and with a start from April 2011, already enabled the formation of a new group and chair at TU/e’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. This paper is about Part 1