4. Flow control

4.1 Productivity in flow chemistry

The performance of any equipment (reactor, heat exchanger, material exchanger, separator) can be represented by its efficiency.

In a reactor, efficiency is equal to conversion, defined as the ratio of the flow rate or quantity (mass or mole) of material transformed to the flow rate or quantity of material available for transformation.

In a heat or material exchanger or separator, this efficiency is the ratio of the quantity (or flow rate) of heat or material transferred to the quantity (or flow rate) of material or heat potentially transferable.

To a first approximation, the efficiency E is an asymptotic relation of the ratio between a time (the time or passage time depending...