Pump selection for a laboratory reactor feed system often looks simple on paper: choose a pump that can deliver the required flow against the required pressure. In practice, the difficult part is usually everything around those two numbers.
Start with the operating envelope
The first question is not the nominal flow rate. It is the full range of flow, suction pressure, discharge pressure, fluid condition, and control behavior the pump must tolerate.
A pump that is excellent at 500 mL/min may be a poor choice at 5 mL/min. A pump that performs well with a fully liquid suction may become unreliable when small amounts of gas are present.
Think about what failure looks like
For a pressurized reactor system, consider what happens when the pump stops, loses prime, sees gas, or experiences downstream pressure above its discharge pressure. Those operating states often drive the real design requirements.
This article is a sample starter article for the V1 site. Replace it with the full technical treatment before launch.