Dedicated processes

Specialty plants. These plants are capable of producing small amounts of a variety of products. Such plants are common in fine chemicals, pharmaceutic s, foods, and so on. In specialty plants, the margins are usually high, so factors such as energy costs are important but not life-and-death issues. As the production amounts are relatively small, it is not economically feasible to dedicate processing equipment to the manufac ture of only one product. Instead, batch processing is utilized so that several products (perhaps hundreds) can be manufactured with the same process equipment. The key issue in such plants is to manufacture consistently each product in accordance with its specifications. 

Due to the fact that operations C and E serve as quality control operations, the mass load removed by each is essentially zero. However, each operation requires a minimum of 300 kg water and a maximum of 400 kg of water. The concentration data, water requirements and starting and ending times of each operation are given in Table 9.1. The capacity of each of the units used for the required operations is 2000 kg, with each operation taking place in a dedicated processing unit. 

Computer rooms considered in this section are those installations of substantial size and importance providing primarily data processing and network support service for multiple large process units or for an entire plant site. These installations are typically much larger than ones for an individual processing facility s dedicated process control computer. 

Bok, Grossmann and Park (2000) explained a classification of chemical process networks and characterized them as either dedicated or flexible processes. Dedicated processes operate at one mode and for high volume products whereas flexible processes operate at different modes and produce different products at different times. In the formulation introduced in this chapter, we account for different... 

Since ethyleneamines react with many other chemicals, dedicated processing equipment is usually desirable. Amines slowly absorb water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and oxygen from the atmosphere, which may result in the formation of low concentrations of by-products and generally increase color. Storage under an inert atmosphere minimizes this son of degradation. 

The PPR and LFR are also applied in a more recently developed dedicated process for NOx removal from off-gases. The Shell low-temperature NO reduction process is based on the reaction of nitrogen oxides with ammonia (reactions iv and v), catalyzed by a highly active and selective catalyst, consisting of vanadium and titania on a silica carrier [18]. The high activity of this catalyst allows the reaction of NO with ammonia (known as selective catalytic reduction) to be carried out not only at the usual temperatures around 300°C, but at substantially lower temperatures down to 130°C. The catalyst is commercially manufactured and applied in the form of spheres (S-995) or as granules (S-095) [19]. 

Another consideration when working with a contract manufacturer is whether specialized or dedicated processing equipment will be required. If dedicated or special equipment is required, the contract manufacturer may feel justified to ask the client to supply this equipment with or without a later buy-back arrangement. In a buy-back arrangement, the contractor asks the client to initially assume the full risk of loss of the capital investment in the equipment should the product not become a viable commercial entity. However, as the product successfully completes each stage of the steps to marketability, the client s capital investment would be gradually returned. The end result is that the contract manufacturer has all of the equipment needed for the manufacture of commercial-sized batches of the client s product at the time it is finally commercialized. 

The case study deals with a dedicated process, shown in Fig. 3, to which the investment planning model is applied. The process consists of ten process units including distillation and absorption columns, compressor, pump, heat exchanger and a reactor. 

Regular maintenance is required for the filtercloths and product contacted 0-rings. These must be chosen in materials of construction compatible with the product. They are usually changed at the end of a campaign before switching to a new product. For dedicated processes, lifetime will depend upon the product. 

A smaller fraction (400 tonnes/year) of portable Ni-Cd batteries collected by industrial waste management companies is either processed with industrial waste and treated for recycling in non-dedicated processes like steel and lead recycling plants, or introduced legally in landfills according to local authorization procedures. 

In this approach, one can consider that the quantity of spent Ni-Cd batteries generated at source is equal to the quantity that the end-user is eliminating via several routes, like MSW and/or voluntary landfill (VL), and the quantity that is collected for recycling in dedicated processes or not. If we take the example of Ni-Cd batteries, one can consider for simplification two factors ... 

Dedicating processes for recycling is always likely to result in a high processing cost as the entire capital investment must be realised against the waste being recycled. With unsorted batteries, the composition of the feed to the process is relatively uncontrolled, consequently the process is likely to produce variable quality products. 

Develop creativity and teach systematic methods by means of a dedicated Process Design course and of an introductory project. 

A key component of the analysis is whether to produce the new API with dedicated process trains and facilities or to campaign the new product with other products utilizing similar equipment. Major new API compounds may warrant dedicated process trains and facilities due to the sheer volume of product or due to unique processing techniques. However, most new higher-potency APIs can be produced with less equipment over a shorter time span than in the past, thus allowing the manufacturer to produce multiple products within the same equipment. This approach can often result in significant conservation of capital. 

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