Different implications and possible applications of the process intensification (PI) approach in the chemical industry are shown. Whereas in its pioneer days PI was defined as a pure reduction in plant size by a factor of 10-100, the PI idea has developed towards a multidisciplinary approach for process and plant. This tendency is driven by the challenges the chemicals business is facing today in terms of cost and innovation pressure. This study describes how micro process technology could provide the opportunity to realize chemical processes and plant designs faster, resulting in lower investment and operating costs. In this context, it is shown that microstructured catalytic wall reactors can boost partial oxidation processes operated in multitubular reactors by increasing chemical conversion by a factor greater than 2, though only adding 20 % of nominal capacity enhancement.