[Music plays]
(Narrator) Manufacturing chemical based products
is important to everyday life
and plays a central role in the global economy.
Combining chemicals with different properties and functions
leads to advanced products in areas like medicine,
food, textiles and household products.
Previously, classical batch chemistry has been simple and effective
when discovering new materials
but using this method to scale up chemical production
can be problematic.
There can be issues with waste, for example,
heat management or even runaway reactions.
[Explosion can be heard]
Moving to cleaner, more cost effective chemical production is important
for sustaining chemical manufacturing in Australia and around the world.
Flow Chemistry is a smarter way of making chemicals.
This is how it works.
Pumps deliver chemicals to a reactor where chemical reaction takes place
inside a continuous stream.
Multi stage flow processing eliminates the need
for chemical handling in between steps which improves safety.
Adding inline purification makes the process
more efficient and streamlined.
By integrating smart monitoring and online analysis
entire chemical operations can be automated.
The small dimensions and clever design of these flow channels
provide much greater control over the chemical reaction taking place inside.
Mixing is fast and efficient and the modular design offers flexibility.
Broken parts can be swiftly replaced
without shutting down entire operations.
Excellent heat control inside the reactor
means boundaries can be pushed in a safe environment
avoiding waste and hazardous explosions along the way.
Because flow reactors operate continuously, making more product
simply means running the operation for a longer time.
Scaling up reactors is much simpler too.
Transferring chemical manufacturing from lab to factory
becomes significantly faster and more straightforward
with less need to redesign.
Flow Chemistry reduces processing time from hours to minutes
which in turn reduces required plant space.
For industrial chemical manufacturers this translates to
lower energy usage, less wastage,
increased safety and reduced costs.
[Music plays]