The application of an electrochemical microflow reactor for the electrosynthetic aldol reaction of acetone to diacetone alcohol

•A modular micro-fluidic electrochemical reactor setup is constructed and employed.•An electro-organic synthesis with the solvent as reactant is performed.•The effect of channel design and velocity profile on the mass transfer is described.•The laminar flow is exploited to separate highly reactive electrogenerated species. The design and application of an electrochemical micro-flow reactor for the aldol reaction of acetone to diacetone alcohol (DAA) is reported. The modular reactor could be readily disassembled and reassembled to change the electrodes, incorporate a membrane and remove possible obstructions. The productivity and efficiency was quantified. Using a platinum deposit as electrocatalyst or an inert glassy carbon electrode as working electrode, the maximum obtainable equilibrium concentration of ±15m% was reached after a single pass up to a flow rate of 8mlmin−1, yielding 0.57gmin−1 DAA (3.46mmolcm−3min−1) at an efficiency of 0.33gC−1 on platinum and 0.50gmin−1 (3.04mmolcm−3min−1) at 1.20gC−1 on glassy carbon. Note that no optimisation studies have been made in the present paper.