For decades, a production paradigm based on centralized, stepwise, large scale processes has dominated the chemical industry horizon. While effective to meet an ever increasing demand for high value-added chemicals, the so-called macroscopic batch reactors are also associated with inherent weaknesses and threats; some of the most obvious ones were tragically illustrated over the past decades with major industrial disasters and impactful disruptions of advanced chemical supplies. The COVID pandemic has further emphasized that a change in paradigm was necessary to sustain chemical production with an increased safety, reliable supply chains and adaptable productivities. More than a decade of research and technology development has led to alternative and effective chemical processes relying on miniaturised flow reactors (a.k.a. micro and mesofluidic reactors). Such miniaturised reactors bear the potential to solve safety concerns and to improve the reliability of chemical supply chains. Will they initiate a new paradigm for a more localized, safe and reliable chemical production?

中文翻译：

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下一代化工厂会采用微型流动反应器吗？

几十年来，基于集中式、逐步式、大规模流程的生产模式一直主导着化学工业的视野。虽然可以有效满足对高附加值化学品不断增长的需求，但所谓的宏观间歇式反应器也存在固有的弱点和威胁；一些最明显的问题在过去几十年中以重大工业灾难和先进化学品供应的严重中断而悲剧性地展现出来。COVID 大流行进一步强调，必须改变范式，以提高安全性、可靠的供应链和适应性强的生产力来维持化学生产。十多年的研究和技术开发已经产生了依赖于微型流动反应器（又名 微型和中流控反应器）。这种微型反应堆具有解决安全问题和提高化学品供应链可靠性的潜力。他们会为更加本地化、安全和可靠的化学生产开创一个新范式吗？