Thermal analysis of chemical reaction with a continuous microfluidic calorimeter

This paper presents a continuous microfluidic calorimeter to measure kinetics and enthalpy of very dangerous, highly exothermic chemical reactions. The main idea is to use a microfluidic chip, in co-flow or droplet flow, where the microchannel acts as the chemical reactor. A thermopile (Peltier element) measures the global heat flux dissipated during the chemical reaction. A highly thermal conductive plate is placed between the thermopile and the reactor to avoid severe temperature gradients and to let most of the heat flux go through this plate. Because of the microchannel dimensions only a small amount of products is required.