(64a) Development and Evaluation of Microreaction Experiments and Implementation into University Teaching

Microreaction technology is the focus of both, small- and middle-sized businesses and research institutes in Germany. In particular the Freestate of Thuringia has developed a leading position. At the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, relevant contents have already been integrated into educational curricula of chemistry and environmental chemistry degree programs. However, due to the very fast development of technological aspects, there is a lack of university experiments and lectures aiming to familiarize students with the advantages and potentials of microreaction technology. Hence, the demands of today's industry with regard to manpower are not answered by the availability of graduates with solid experiences in the microreaction sector. The increasing industrial interests in microreaction technology for continuous production processes (e.g. fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals) has to be reflected in academia by gradually implementing this area of science into university curricula.

Therefore, the ?Middle-German Cluster for Microreaction Technology?, a cooperation between the universities of Jena, Ilmenau and Chemnitz, was founded with the financial assistance of the ?Federal Ministry of Education and Research? (BMBF) in the context of the larger funding program ?Microsystems (2004-2009)?. The main aim of the cluster is to design six microreaction experiments, which can be handled with one consistent periphery of sensor and actuating elements (UV/Vis-spectrometers, syringe pumps). In the center of this device, the six different microreaction experiments can be exchangeably integrated. Hence, every institution will possess a set of six different transportable and well-established microreaction experiments for student education. On the one hand this will generate a very high benefit for the standardization of microreaction education and curricula. On the other hand, it will enhance the number of graduates in microreaction education and their potential to find employment in industrial firms and, therefore, close the gap between actual and desirable market conditions.

For this reason, two microreaction liquid-phase experiments were developed within the above-mentioned cluster with the aim of teaching fluidic phenomena in dependence of residence time, pressure loss (energy dissipation) and mixing quality in dimensionally different microstructured T-mixers. The first experiment deals with the formation of red iron(III)-thiocyanate, which is quantified using a stereo-microscope on the basis of digitalized color detection. The second experiment deals with the kinetics of ionic liquid formation (direct synthesis of symmetric and asymmetric 1,3-disubstituted imidazolium salts) using online UV-Vis analysis. Besides the mixing quality at different flow-rates the process suitability for numbering-up is evaluated.

Since there is no valid and reliable data on the benefit and the learning effects of microreaction experiments on students we have devised a pre-post-follow-up-design including different groups of students into the sample to evaluate the implementation of the above experiments from a didactic point of view. The students will be tested at three points in time applying quantitative as well as qualitative methods (semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, participating observations as well as video documentation).

Overall, the project has the following goals:

? Development of competences of students in the field of microreaction technology.

? Know-how in subject- and structure-optimized experimental content by the instructional personnel.

? Improvement of job opportunities of graduates.

? Provision of well-qualified personnel to small- and medium-sized businesses in the field of microreaction technology.