Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR), in collaboration with UCD, has launched PRIAM, an Enterprise Ireland-funded project set to transform chemical manufacturing through advanced design, simulation and 3D printing of scalable microreactors

The team officially kicked off the project on 15 January 2026 at IMR’s Mullingar site, hosting Dr. Marcus Baumann and Parth Deepak Naik from the UCD School of Chemistry.

Project Overview

UCD is IMR’s collaborative partner in this follow-on project, which aims to develop and commercialise customised 3D-printed microreactors for continuous flow processing in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The PRIAM microreactor platform uses a combination of computational fluid dynamics simulation (CFD), advanced computational design (CAD) and additive manufacturing (AM) to produce scalable microreactors for the continuous flow sector.

The combination of these technologies allows the benefits of continuous flow processing to be realised and scaled to industrial levels, initially within the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and fine chemical sectors, and in the future expanding to biofuel, petrochemical and food industries.

Significance and impact

Pharmaceutical manufacturing relies heavily on batch-based systems that are wasteful, inconsistent, and slow. Each year, the sector loses billions to failed batches, slow scale-up, and inefficient chemical reactions. Up to 33 per cent of material is lost during early-stage drug production, with batch failure rates averaging 7 per cent. Each failed batch can cost up to €1 million and delay product launches by months, with an estimated €500,000 per day in lost revenue.

While continuous flow processing has long promised a better alternative, adoption has been limited due to cost, complexity, and scalability challenges. PRIAM addresses these barriers, offering a stainless-steel microreactor system that delivers a true plug-and-play transition from lab to pilot to production. Initial pilot testing achieved a 98 per cent yield, well above typical batch (54 per cent) and comparative flow (70 per cent) systems, while process variability was reduced below 2 per cent, enabling tighter quality control and higher reliability.

Target industries

The PRIAM microreactor platform is initially focused on the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and fine chemical sectors. Its scalable design also opens the door for future adoption in biofuel, petrochemical and food industries, providing a step-change in efficiency and reliability across chemical manufacturing.

Collaborative Roles

IMR leads the project, overseeing all aspects of microreactor design and fabrication from lab to full production scale, as well as managing commercialisation and spin-out strategies. UCD School of Chemistry is a formal collaborator, conducting critical performance testing across a range of industrially relevant chemical mixing regimes.

The project is supported by Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund, with guidance from commercialisation specialist Dr. Aoife Kelly.

Next Steps

Over the coming months, IMR and UCD will conduct intensive trials, subjecting microreactors to diverse chemical mixing conditions to evaluate performance. These trials will span multiple reactor designs, each engineered to meet higher throughput demands from laboratory to production scale.

For more information, visit IMR HERE

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