Macro-microreactor-Based\nProcess Intensification for\nAchievement of High-Mixing-Performance, Low-Pressure-Drop, and High-Throughput\nLiquid–Liquid Homogeneous Chemical Processes

Microreactors provide an enhanced mixing performance\nbut suffer\nfrom low throughput. This work proposed a macro-microreactor with\ndesigned internals to achieve both process intensification and scale-up\nfor the liquid–liquid homogeneous chemical processes. Numerical\nsimulations utilizing computational fluid dynamics were conducted\nto investigate the fluid mechanics and the properties of mixing of\na macro-microreactor (feature size >2000 μm). Experimental\nvalidation\nusing the Villermaux–Dushman reaction demonstrated that this\neasily fabricated macro-microreactor with optimized helical-shaped\ninternal achieved a comparable mixing performance, lower pressure\ndrop, and higher throughput compared to a typical microreactor with\na smaller feature size (1000 μm). The macro-microreactor would\nfind more applications in industrial liquid–liquid homogeneous\nchemical processes.