Research on microfluidic devices has been growing at an astounding pace for a wide variety of applications including DNA chips, proteomics, chemical and biological sensors, combinatorial catalysis, etc. Because the microfluidic technology is still in its infancy stage in many aspects it is too early to realize the technology’s full commercial potential. This assessment is particularly true for using microfluidic devices to produce chemicals as demanded by end users for portable devices or for “just-in-time” stationary applications. For example, we can envision a device that can safely convert methanol to hydrogen for a fuel cell-powered cell phone for ten times longer life than a battery. Another dream application is in the design of a microreactor device to act as an artificial liver in which enzymatic reactions, such as gluconeogenesis and ethanol metabolism, must be carefully controlled. We refer to this class of microfluidic devices as “microreactors.” And, when these devices are integrated to manipulate and control chemical reactions for specific functions from a systems point of view, we generally call them as “microchemical systems.”

Microreactors offer many paradigm-changing opportunities for biomedical chemicals, defense, energy, and pharmaceutical industries, as recently described by the National Research Council as “emerging platforms for chemical process intensification and miniaturization.” Due to the synergistic combination of their portability and excellent heat and mass transfer characteristics, microreactors are being developed in laboratories worldwide for: (1) exploring new chemical synthesis routes via safely accessing extreme operating conditions and (2) on-demand production of critical chemicals via numbering up with shortened development times and less environmental, transportation and storage burdens. For example, as one of the most critical components of the fast emerging health care economy in New Jersey and the Northeast Corridor, the pharmaceutical industry is looking for technology innovations like microreactor technology that will substantially reduce time required to bring newly discovered drugs to the marketplace.