Patent ID: 7332139

Claim:
A process for carrying out a reaction between at least two fluid reactants in a reactor having a plurality of wall elements, each of the wall elements comprising a plurality of tubular cavities being parallel to each other for conducting a fluid heat-exchange medium there through and a plurality of slot-shaped reaction spaces, a) each of said slot-shaped reaction spaces is formed by the lateral surfaces of two spaced apart, substantially equally large and substantially right-parallelepipedal wall elements made of solid plates and wherein the wall elements are arranged interchangeably in a block within a virtual right parallelepiped, comprising b) introducing the reactants into the slot-shaped reaction spaces from edge regions situated on the same side of the block and conducting said reactants through the reaction spaces as a reaction mixture in the same directions in parallel flows, c) conducting the fluid heat-exchange medium through the tubular cavities, extending in the interior of the wall elements to thereby obtain a desired reaction, and d) supplying at least one reactant through the wall elements and into the reaction space through at least one of the lateral surfaces of the wall elements, wherein the slot-shaped reaction spaces have a slot width of between 0.05 and 5 mm, whereby in case of explosive reaction mixtures the slot width of the slot-shaped reaction spaces is chosen sufficiently small in order to avoid spreading of flames.