# Editorial: Fundamentals, design and applications in process-intensifying equipment

Adam Harvey, Martine Poux, Joelle Aubin

► To cite this version:

Adam Harvey, Martine Poux, Joelle Aubin.
Applications in process-intensifying equipment.
10.3389/fceng.2022.1038183. hal-05033667

Editorial: Fundamentals, design and ap-
Frontiers in Chemical Engineering, 2022, 4,

HAL Id: hal-05033667

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Submitted on 15 Apr 2025

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OPEN ACCESS

EDITED AND REVIEWED BY

Dan Wang,
Beijing University of Chemical
Technology, China

*CORRESPONDENCE

Joelle Aubin,
joelle.aubin@toulouse-inp.fr

SPECIALTY SECTION

This article was submitted to
Microfluidic Engineering and Process
Intensification,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Chemical Engineering

RECEIVED 06 September 2022

ACCEPTED 21 September 2022

PUBLISHED 12 October 2022

CITATION

Harvey A, Poux M and Aubin J (2022), Editorial: Fundamentals, design and applications in process-intensifying equipment. *Front. Chem. Eng.* 4:1038183. doi: 10.3389/fceng.2022.1038183

COPYRIGHT

© 2022 Harvey, Poux and Aubin. This is
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The use, distribution or reproduction in
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Editorial: Fundamentals, design
and applications in
process-intensifying equipment

Adam Harvey¹, Martine Poux² and Joelle Aubin²*

¹School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom, ²Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, France

KEYWORDS

process intensification, mixing, batch to continuous processes, microreactor, on-line analysis

Editorial on the Research Topic

Fundamentals, design and applications in process-intensifying
equipment

Process intensification in chemical engineering processes has been a topic of significant scientific interest for well over 20 years and its interest in the process industries for diverse applications is prevailing. A wide variety of process-intensifying equipment has been developed over this time and are currently used in industrial applications. This Research Topic focuses on the use of specific equipment for process intensification. It aims covering recent and novel research on process-intensifying equipment, ranging from the fundamental physical understanding of process improvement, performance characterization and design guidelines for such devices to applications of industrial interest.

Mixing is a cornerstone of process intensification. Often “intensified” reactors and heat exchange devices are simply novel and more effective methods of mixing. Hence, the measurement of mixing is a key underpinning technique in PI research. A variety of methods for *in situ* measurements of mixing have been developed, as different techniques are required for different circumstances, due to variations in the phases present, viscosities, opacities etc. In PI. Frey et al.’s paper, “A Novel Approach for Visualizing Mixing Phenomena of Reactive Liquid-Liquid Flows in Milli- and Micro-Channels”, the authors describe a new way of measuring small-scale flows, using spatially resolved imaging UV/Vis spectroscopy. The paper, (Matos et al.) “Mixing in the NETmix Reactor” illustrates the uses of simulation in design of intensified process technologies. It describes the modelling of a multiple chamber jet-impingement reactor, allowing optimisation of its geometric parameters.

One of the main forms of process intensification in practise is the conversion of
inherently inefficient batch processes to more efficient continuous processing. A key
element in this conversion is the presence or availability of the necessary analytical
equipment, to cope with shorter feedback times i.e. equipment
that can analyse continually, rapidly and online. Ideally, the
online techniques are spectroscopic, as such techniques tend to
be very rapid. However, this is not always possible, particularly
for complex mixtures and/or complex molecules, particularly
pharmaceuticals. Escriba-Golonch et al.'s paper, "Automated
High-Pressure At-line Analysis of Photo-High-P,T Vitamin
D3 Microfluidic Synthesis" deals with this aspect of process
intensification, in their development of an automatic HPLC
for specific the pharmaceuticals in a microreactor.

Author contributions

AH: writing MP: writing JA: writing.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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