Adaptive feedback control flow reactor

A flow reactor providing a high degree of selectivity in the production of an end product from a feedstock, said feedstock undergoing one or more competing chemical reactions in said reactor to produce said end product and one or more of a plurality of byproducts depending upon the energy and chemical flux distribution along the length of said reactor, said flow reactor comprising:

• sidewalls defining an elongated reactor unit having a length dimension along which said feedstock is reacted under varying conditions of energy and chemical flux effective to produce said end product;
• a plurality of devices supplying energy flux through said sidewalls to alter the distribution of said energy and chemical flux along said length of said reactor unit;
• an adaptive feedback controller;
• and
• one or more devices measuring the yield of said end product compound in said reactor unit, and providing yield information to said controller;
• and
• wherein said feedback controller employs an algorithm to conduct an iterative multi-variant analysis for a plurality of energy and chemical flux distributions to determine the energy and chemical flux distribution effective to optimize the yield of said end product relative to the yield of said one or more byproducts, wherein said analysis is based on said yield information provided to said controller by said yield measuring devices;
• and said feedback controller actuates at least one device supplying energy flux through said sidewalls to establish and maintain said chemical and energy flux distribution determined by said analysis to optimize end product yield.