High-pressure processes and equipment have been important to the chemical industry ever since the development of ammonia synthesis by Haber and Bosch. Today a wide range of industrial processes make use of high pressure technology, including the liquefaction of gases, the synthesis of low density polyethylene, and the synthesis of diamond and boron nitride. In particular, the use of supercritical fluid (SCF) solvents in separation and extractions [ 1-61, and chemical reaction processes [7-91 are described in numerous examples in the literature, and similar design and safety principles for both industrial processes and benchtop reactors (either for scientific or pilot scale purposes) can be applied. The wide variety in application and scale of high-pressure technology makes it necessary to be selective when considering the design and safety of such systems. Nonetheless, because of the numerous design examples it seems impossible to give a complete (or even partial !) description of high-pressure reaction equipment. Consequently, this chapter focuses on small-scale (benchtop) high-pressure equipment, their related safety questions, and their application to chemical reactions and extractionheparation as shown in the literature. It needs to be stressed that in-depth information is given in the corresponding literature and, and in particular, by the manufacturers of commercially available components, thus recommending the study of the specific catalogues. Most of the manufacturers mentioned in this chapter maintain pages on the World Wide Web, and further information can be obtained there.
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