Gmeiner, JohannesJohannesGmeinerHasse, JonahJonahHasseLuinstra, Gerrit A.Gerrit A.LuinstraLiese, AndreasAndreasLieseEckert, KathrinKathrinEckertSmirnova, IrinaIrinaSmirnova2026-06-082026-06-082026-06-04Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (in Press): (2026)https://hdl.handle.net/11420/63401Iron(III)-reinforced poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) organogel beads inside a casing give an intrinsic chemo-mechanical valve. The valve was incorporated in a setup with a stirred reactor for the heterogeneously acid-catalyzed esterification of acetic acid and ethanol. A noninvasive gravimetric control loop was used to validate the autonomous modulation of the hydrodynamic residence time in response to the composition of the reaction mixture. Operating at a 1:1 molar feed ratio, the valve restricted the initial outflow to less than 7 mL·min–1 and autonomously ramped up to a steady state flow of 135 mL·min–1 as the esterification approached thermodynamic equilibrium. The valve opening rate was about half of the reaction rate. The ionically reinforced organogel had enough resilience inside the casing for multiple uses. Soft actuators were thus successfully applied for reaching a self-regulating reactor loop driven by intrinsic chemical feedback of a smart material.en1520-50452026American Chemical Society (ACS)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Technology::660: Chemistry; Chemical EngineeringTechnology::660: Chemistry; Chemical Engineering::660.2: Chemical EngineeringNatural Sciences and Mathematics::540: ChemistryJournal Articlehttps://doi.org/10.15480/882.1727510.1021/acs.iecr.6c0097310.15480/882.1727510.15480/882.1680710.1021/acs.iecr.6c00973.s001