Microreactor technology promises a modular process intensification technology capable of removing heat-transfer limitations on endothermic and exothermic processes central to on-demand hydrogen production and commodity chemicals production from distributed hydrocarbon resources while providing several pathways to heat integration for these processes. Additionally, the incorporation of hydrogen-permselective membranes allows further intensification via coupling reforming or water–gas-shift catalytic processes with in situ H₂ removal. The primary challenges to realizing microreactor technology for these applications remains firstly, efficient and effective thermal integration of multiple processes, secondly, realizing manufacturable designs with minimal heat-losses and/or thermal non-uniformities, and thirdly, addressing materials compatibility and durability concerns for micromembrane reactors. This brief perspectives article presents a discussion of these challenges in the context of reviewing our recent research efforts in unconventional microreactor design approaches for process intensification aimed at combining the advantages of microreactors and microfabrication with more conventional materials and fabrication techniques.

微反应器技术有望提供一种模块化的工艺强化技术，该技术能够消除吸热和放热过程的传热限制，而这些问题是分布式碳氢化合物资源按需生产氢气和生产商品化学品的核心，同时为这些工艺提供了多种热集成途径。此外，氢选择性渗透膜的结合可通过将重整或水煤气变换催化过程与原位H ₂耦合而进一步增强移动。对于这些应用而言，实现微反应器技术的主要挑战仍然是：首先，对多个过程进行高效且有效的热集成；其次，以最小的热损失和/或热不均匀性实现可制造的设计；其次，解决材料兼容性和耐久性问题。微膜反应器。这篇简短的观点文章在回顾我们最近在非常规微反应器设计方法中的工艺强化研究成果的背景下讨论了这些挑战，该方法旨在将微反应器和微加工的优势与更常规的材料和制造技术相结合。