Technical advantages and industry value：

As a revolutionary innovation in the field of chemical industry, continuous flow technology and microreactor are reshaping the R&D and production mode of the new material industry with its characteristics of efficient mass and heat transfer, precise process control and intrinsic safety. The micron-scale channel design of the microreactor can provide 10-100 times higher specific surface area than traditional kettle reactors, greatly improving the reaction rate and selectivity. For example, in the synthesis of bio-based materials, microreactors can increase the yield of FDCA (2.5-furandicarboxylic acid) to more than 90% while reducing solvent consumption by 50% through turbulent strong mixing and heterogeneous catalysis. In addition, continuous flow technology enables seamless scale-up from laboratory testing to 10.000-ton industrialization through modular design and on-line monitoring system, which can significantly shorten the development cycle of new products.

Core application scenarios and cases：

• Synthesis of bio-based materials

Through precise control of gas-liquid-solid three-phase reaction conditions, the problems of catalyst deactivation and side reaction generation in the traditional process are solved, and the bio-based materials FDCA and PEF (polyethylene 2.5-furandicarboxylate) have been successfully mass-produced, with a purity of more than 99.5%, which have been applied to the fields of special engineering plastics and electronic semiconductor packaging. Similarly, a company optimized the Hoffmann rearrangement reaction with a continuous flow photochemical microreactor, reducing the impurity content from 5% to 0.5%, driving the efficient production of photosensitive materials.

• Development of high-performance polymers

The microreactor synthesizes UV-curable flexible vinyl resin, which avoids gelatinization through temperature gradient control (reaction temperature fluctuation ±1°C), and the light transmittance of the product is increased to 98%, which is used in high-end coatings and 3D printing materials. In the synthesis of PI polyimide monomers, continuous flow technology increases the preparation efficiency of monomers by 40% and reduces the cost by 30% through fixed-bed catalysis and continuous desolubilization processes.

• Nanomaterials and electronic chemicals

The droplet microfluidic technology of the microreactor enables the precise synthesis of nanocatalysts. The standard deviation of the particle size distribution of the supported nanocatalyst developed by a company is < 2 nm and the cycle life is up to 300 hours, which is used in the continuous production of high-purity electron etching solutions. In the synthesis of carbon fiber precursors, the continuous flow process realizes the precise control of the molecular weight distribution through a multi-stage micromixer, and the tensile strength of the product is increased by 25%.

• Green energy materials

The Tsinghua University team has developed a new type of lithium-ion battery electrode material using continuous flow photocatalysis, which realizes nanoparticle size control (50±5 nm) through uniform precipitation in the microchannel, and the battery cycle life exceeds 2000 times. In addition, the microreactor reduces the platinum load to 0.1 mg/cm² through supercritical fluid technology in the preparation of hydrogen fuel cell catalysts, which is only 1/5 of the cost of traditional processes.