A New Process

In 1987, Toray Industries, Inc., announced the development of a new process for making aromatic nitriles which reportedly halved the production cost, reduced waste treatment requirements, and reduced production time by more than two-thirds, compared with the vapor-phase process used by most producers. The process iavolves the reaction of ben2oic acid (or substituted ben2oic acid) with urea at 220—240°C ia the presence of a metallic catalyst (78). 

After development of a new process scheme at laboratory scale, constmction and operation of pilot-plant faciUties to confirm scale-up information often require two or three years. An additional two to three years is commonly required for final design, fabrication of special equipment, and constmction of the plant. Thus, projections of raw material costs and availabiUty five to ten years into the future become important in adopting any new process significantly different from the current technology. 

During the development of a new process or if unexpected problems arise, the support of a much better equipped laboratory may be necessary. This laboratory must be able to isolate impurities and determine the stmetures of impurities. Instmments like nmr, ms, and ir, and specialized chemists are a necessity in such a laboratory. 

Ak2o has been iastmmental ia developiag a new process for the stereospecific synthesis of 1,4-cyclohexane diisocyanate [7517-76-2] (21). This process, based on the conversion of poly(ethylene terephthalate) [25038-59-9] circumvents the elaborate fractional crystallisation procedures required for the existing -phenylenediamine [108-45-2] approaches. The synthesis starts with poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) (32) or phthaUc acid, which is converted to the dimethyl ester and hydrogenated to yield the cyclohexane-based diester (33). Subsequent reaction of the ester with ammonia provides the desired bisamide (34). The synthesis of the amide is the key... 

Scale-up is the process of developing a plant design from experimental data obtained from a unit many orders of magnitude smaller. This activity is considered successful if the commercial plant produces the product at plaimed rates, for plaimed costs, and of desired quaUty. This step from pilot plant to full-scale operation is perhaps the most precarious of all the phases of developing a new process because the highest expenses ate committed at the stages when the greatest risks occur. 

In this process, the fine powder of lithium phosphate used as catalyst is dispersed, and propylene oxide is fed at 300°C to the reactor, and the product, ahyl alcohol, together with unreacted propylene oxide is removed by distihation (25). By-products such as acetone and propionaldehyde, which are isomers of propylene oxide, are formed, but the conversion of propylene oxide is 40% and the selectivity to ahyl alcohol reaches more than 90% (25). However, ahyl alcohol obtained by this process contains approximately 0.6% of propanol. Until 1984, ah ahyl alcohol manufacturers were using this process. Since 1985 Showa Denko K.K. has produced ahyl alcohol industriahy by a new process which they developed (6,7). This process, which was developed partiy for the purpose of producing epichlorohydrin via ahyl alcohol as the intermediate, has the potential to be the main process for production of ahyl alcohol. The reaction scheme is as fohows ... 

EPR and EPDM have been made by either solution or emulsion polymerization processes. More recently a new process involving gas-phase polymerization and metallocene catalysts promises to capture large shares of these markets. These new polymers will be especially attractive in automotive apphcations and wine and cable where theh favorable pricing should be welcome. 

Superffex C t lytic Crocking. A new process called Superflex is being commercialized to produce predorninantiy propylene and butylenes from low valued hydrocarbon streams from an olefins complex (74). In this process, raffinates (from the aromatics recovery unit and the B—B stream after the recovery of isobutylene) and pyrolysis gasoline (after the removal of the C —Cg aromatics fraction) are catalyticaHy cracked to produce propylene, isobutylene, and a cmde C —Cg aromatics fraction. AH other by-products are recycled to extinction. 

It is also used to manufacture chlorarule, [118-75-2] a coloring agent, but a new process to synthesize this product has gready reduced this market. This new process, with hydroquinone as raw material (64—67), has the advantage of giving a product of much higher quaUty than can be obtained with 2,4,6-ttichlorophenol. 

Designing an experiment is like designing a product. Every product serves a purpose so should every experiment. This purpose must be clearly defined at the outset. It may, for example, be to optimize a process, to estimate the probabiUty that a component operates properly under a given stress for a specified number of years, to evaluate the relative effects on product performance of different sources of manufacturing and end use variabiUty, or to determine whether a new process is superior to an existing one. An understanding of this purpose is important in developing an appropriate experimental plan. 

Foxboro developed a self-tuning PID controller that is based on a so-called expert system approach for adjustment of the controller parameters. The on-line tuning of K, Xi, and Xo is based on the closed-loop transient response to a step change in set point. By evaluating the salient characteristics of the response (e.g., the decay ratio, overshoot, and closed-loop period), the controller parameters can be updated without actually finding a new process model. The details of the algorithm, however, are proprietary... 

Problem Definition InteUigent selection of a separator requires a careful and complete statement of the nature of the separation problem. Focusing narrowly on the specific problem, however, is not sufficient, especi ly if the separation is to be one of the steps in a new process. Instead, the problem must be defined as broadly as possible, beginning with the chemical reactor or other source of material to be separated and ending with the separated materials in their desired final form. In this way the influence of preceding and subsequent process steps on the separation step will be iUuminated. Sometimes, of course, the new separator is proposed to replace an existing unit the new separator must then fit into the current process and accept feed materials of more or less fixed characteristics. At other times the separator is only one item in a train of new equipment, all parts of which must work in harmony if the separator is to be effective. 

A preliminary estimate is useful for the linear velocity to be used on the catalyst under study. The linear flow is known for an existing process. For a new process, it can be estimated from flow used in similar processes. An estimate can also be developed for the minimum flow to avoid gradients from calculations (to be presented in Appendix C.)... 

In today s competitive climate, investigators cannot spend much time on the clarification of the kinetics for a new process. At Union Carbide Corporation in the 1970s the study to replace the old and not very efficient butyraldehyde hydrogenation was done in three months. In another three months a kinetic model was developed and simultaneously tested in an existing single tube in a pilot-plant (Cropley et al,1984). Seldom is a completely new process studied for which no similar example exists in the industry. 

For a new process, the basis used for reactor scaleup should be discussed with the licensor. Scaleup of other equipment may also require discussions. 

The licensor s basis for sizing has already been discussed and agreed to or changed. For an olefin plant, the number of steam crackers of the licensor s standard size is firm. For a new process, reactor scaleup methods have been agreed to. For a coal gasification plant, gasifier size. 

Livingston, A.G., Extractive Membrane Bioreactors A New Process Technology for Detoxifying Industrial Waste waters, J. Chem. Tech. Biotech., v.60, pp. 117-124, 1994. 

Selection of a PrHA methodology requires consideration of many factors including the availability of process information such as experience with the process, changes that have taken place, reliability, aging, maintenance, etc. If it is a new process, less reliance can be placed on experience and greater reliance must be placed on the analysis of possible accidents and accidents in similar or related processes. Size, complexity and hazard severity influences the dunce ot ihe most appropriate PrHA methodology. 

For a new process plant, calculations can be carried out using the heat release and plume flow rate equations outlined in Table 13.16 from a paper by Bender. For the theory to he valid, the hood must he more than two source diameters (or widths for line sources) above the source, and the temperature difference must be less than 110 °C. Experimental results have also been obtained for the case of hood plume eccentricity. These results account for cross drafts which occur within most industrial buildings. The physical and chemical characteristics of the fume and the fume loadings are obtained from published or available data of similar installations or established through laboratory or pilot-plant scale tests. - If exhaust volume requirements must he established accurately, small scale modeling can he used to augment and calibrate the analytical approach. 

Addendum. In a recent paper Bertho et al. have described a new process for the isolation of kurchi alkaloids. From the final residue a new base, C23H34N2, m.p. 129 5°, was isolated as the carbonate, m.p. 91° it provides the following salts B, 2HI, 2H2O, dec.) 174° B, 2HCIO4, 2.5H2O, m.p. 283°, and a mono-acetyl derivative, m.p. 254°. In a second paper Bertho, Schonberger and Kaltenbom describe further products obtained in the oxidation of conessine by chromic acid and by potassium permanganate. ... 

During the design of a new process plant, in order to ensure that when the plant is operational its systems (hardware, procedures, training, etc.) will provide the maximum support for error-free operation... 

In Exhibit 2-8 the need for new, or modified, control programs or elements could arise either because you have introduced a new process or facility, or modified an existing one. These changes may introduce new process hazards, new occupational safety or industrial hygiene issues or new environmental concerns. Any new hazards need to be assessed so that the company can decide whether they are tolerable or require new controls to... 

As indicaled above, the PHA may ser c as a precursor lo further hazard analyses. It is included in lliis chapter because it can pro ide a cost effective, early-on plant method for hazard identification. As its title indicates, the PHA is really intended for use only in the preliminary phase of plant development for cases where past e.spcriencc provides little or no insight into any potential safety problems, e g., a new plant with a new process. 

A new process, from Norway, has filled the size gap between emulsion and suspension polymerization techniques [7,8]. This novel polymerization method, the so-called swollen emulsion polymerization has been developed by Ugelstad for producing uniform polymeric particles in the size range of 2-100 /nm. This process comprises successive swelling steps and repolymerizations for increasing the particle size of seed polymer particles by keeping the monodispersity of the seed latex. 

A new process to develop interface vulcanization is grafting of selective accelerators onto a polymer chain, which in the subsequent process of vulcanization acts as an effective cure accelerator for the second polymer component in the blend. Beniska et al. [6] prepared SERFS blends where the polystyrene phase was grafted with the accelerator for curing SBR. Improved hardness, tensile strength, and abrasion resistance were obtained. Blends containing modified polystyrene and rw-1,4-polybutadiene showed similar characteristics as SBS triblock copolymers. 

Chemicals directly based on propane are few, although as mentioned, propane and LPG are important feedstocks for the production of olefins. Chapter 6 discusses a new process recently developed for the dehydrogenation of propane to propylene for petrochemical use. Propylene has always been obtained as a coproduct with ethylene from steam cracking processes. Chapter 6 also discusses the production of aromatics from LPG through the Cyclar process. ... 

Both sulfuric acid and hydrofluoric acid catalyzed alkylations are low temperature processes. Table 3-13 gives the alkylation conditions for HF and H2SO4 processes. One drawback of using H2SO4 and HF in alkylation is the hazards associated with it. Many attempts have been tried to use solid catalysts such as zeolites, alumina and ion exchange resins. Also strong solid acids such as sulfated zirconia and SbFs/sulfonic acid resins were tried. Although they were active, nevertheless they lack stability. No process yet proved successful due to the fast deactivation of the catalyst. A new process which may have commercial possibility, uses... 

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