Detailed first-principles models of transport and reaction (based on partial differential equations) lead, after discretization, to dynamical systems of very high order. Systematic methodologies for model order reduction are vital in exploiting such fundamental models in the analysis, design and real-time control of distributed reacting systems. We briefly review some approaches to model order reduction we have successfully used in recent years, and illustrate their capabilities through (a) the design of an observer and stabilizing controller of a reaction-diffusion problem and (b) two-dimensional simulations of the transient behavior of a horizontal MOVPE reactor. (C) 2000 IFAC. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.