Patent ID: 7056477

Claim:
A modular system for producing a chemical product from a plurality of reactants comprising: (a) a control module, said control module being adapted to monitor and control production of the chemical product by the modular system, said control module comprising a processor, a reaction database, and a user interface, the control module being configured to enable a user to interact with the user interface to select a specific reaction to produce the chemical product, from a plurality of different reactions stored in the reaction database, so that in response to a selection made by a user, the processor automatically controls the modular system to produce the chemical product according to reaction parameters for the specific reaction that was selected, said reaction parameters being stored in the reaction database; (b) a reactant supply source for each of said plurality of reactants, a flow of each reactant from its reactant supply source being controlled by the control module; and (c) a first reaction module in fluid communication with each reactant supply source to receive each of the plurality of reactants, said first reaction module being controllably connected to said control module and including a reactor, said reactor automatically producing the chemical product from said plurality of reactants under the control of the control module, said reactor comprising a plurality of simple plates stacked in layers, each simple plate having at least one opening that extends therethrough, an opening in each simple plate overlapping at least one other opening in an adjacent simple plate, thereby forming at least one passage within said reactor for each of said plurality of reactants, each at least one passage for each of said plurality of reactants merging within said reactor to form at least one reaction chamber, the chemical product being formed within said at least one reaction chamber by a reaction between said plurality of reactants, the plurality of simple plates including plates of different thicknesses, such that each simple plate disposed at an uppermost layer and at a lowermost layer in said reactor is substantially thicker than each simple plate disposed between the uppermost layer and the lowermost layer; and (d) a pump module controllably connected to the control module, said pump module being in fluid communication with each reactant supply source and with said first reaction module, the pump module pumping a plurality of fluids through the modular system, the pump module comprising a housing enclosing: (i) a first reactant pump; (ii) a second reactant pump; (iii) a heat transfer media pump; (iv) a data and power bus; (v) a first valve configured to selectively couple the first reactant pump in fluid communication with a solvent supply and a first reactant supply; and (vi) a second valve configured to selectively couple the second reactant pump in fluid communication with the solvent supply and a second reactant supply.