Editing Microreactor (section)

==History==
Gas-phase microreactors have a long history but those involving liquids started to appear in the late 1990s.<ref name=Watts/>  One of the first microreactors with embedded high performance [[heat exchanger]]s were made in the early 1990s by the Central Experimentation Department ([[Institute for Micro Process Engineering|''Hauptabteilung Versuchstechnik'', HVT]]) of [[Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe]]<ref name=schubi01>{{cite journal |last1=Schubert |first1=K. |last2=Brandner |first2=J. |last3=Fichtner |first3=M. |last4=Linder |first4=G. |last5=Schygulla |first5=U. |last6=Wenka |first6=A. |title=Microstructure Devices for Applications in Thermal and Chemical Process Engineering |journal=Microscale Thermophysical Engineering |date=January 2001 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=17–39 |doi=10.1080/108939501300005358 }}</ref>
in Germany, using mechanical micromachining techniques that were a spinoff from the manufacture of [[separation nozzle]]s for [[uranium]] [[Nuclear enrichment|enrichment]].<ref name=schubi01/> As research on nuclear technology was drastically reduced in Germany, microstructured heat exchangers were investigated for their application in handling highly exothermic and dangerous chemical reactions. This new concept, known by names as [[microreaction technology]] or [[micro process engineering]], was further developed by various research institutions. An early example from 1997 involved that of [[azo coupling]]s in a [[pyrex]] reactor with channel dimensions 90 micrometres deep and 190 micrometres wide.<ref name=Watts/>