Process intensification – a set of principles to allow a chemical reaction “to proceed as fast and selective as possible” shows its benefits in fine chemicals production in several ways:

It shortens development times of new, more efficient processes and reduces time to market.

It allows shortening synthetic pathways by making so far hazardous reagents and reaction conditions accessible.

It improves the waste balance and the environmental footprint of production processes and thus improves their sustainability

DSM is now increasingly recognized for achievements in sustainable chemicals production and uses systematic approaches to constantly improve the environmental balance of a number of existing processes by intensifying them and to apply principles of process intensification early in processes development.

In doing so, the number of different unit operations replaced by “intensified” equivalents is constantly increased. Their stepwise implementation allows a smooth transition from conventional technologies to more advanced equivalents.

Several examples are given to elucidate the approach, the metrics used and the results achieved.