By: Anna Unt, Heidi Piili, Marika Hirvimäki, Matti Manninen, Antti Salminen
Lappeenranta University of Technology, Laser Processing Technology Research Group, Finland
Machine Technology Centre Turku Ltd, Finland
Improving control and decreasing energy needs have been the most addressed problems of chemical industry in recent years. One of the thoroughly researched options has been bringing down the scale of production units. Productivity comparable with large-scale industrial mechanisms can be reached by grouping simultaneously working milli-scale production units with volumes of few ml/min having reaction channels with length of 1-100 mm, width of 0.5-2 mm and depth of 0.25-2 mm. The use of milliscale devices has been limited due to the lack of cost-efficient production method, manufacturing such channels by laser can give savings on cost and simplify the production cycle.