Full-scale test production chapter

Standard analyses on whole heavy crude oil or residua, such as determinations of elemental compositions and various physical property tests (Chapter 2) have served to provide some indications of processability and may give an indication of the feedstock behavior. However, there is some question of the reliability of the tests when applied to the heavier feedstocks. For example, it might be wondered if the carbon residue tests (ASTM D-189, ASTM D-524, and ASTM D-4530) are really indicative of the yields of coke formed under process conditions. And, for the heavier feedstocks, it must be emphasized that to proceed from the raw evaluation data to full-scale production, insofar as the heavy feedstock is immediately used in the rehnery, is to proceed without caution. The thermal chemistry of the feedstock constituents will remain an unknown until the feedstock is used on-stream and the compatibility of the feedstock and the products with other feedstocks and products will also be unknown. Further evaluation of the processability of the feedstock is usually necessary. 

Several accelerated long-term tests for assessing the stress-cracking resistance (ESC) to be less time consuming than conventional creep tests were developed such as the full notch creep test (FNCT) as one of the most important methods using notched specimens (an overview about accelerated methods is given in Chapter 4.7, Stress Cracking Resistance )- Moreover a couple of methods for components or semi-finished products (such as plastic pipes) are available where the full-scale pipe test and small-scale steady state test (S4 Test) are the most used ones. 

As noted in Chapter 1, the priorities in batch processes are often quite different from those in large-scale continuous processes. Particularly when manufacturing specialty chemicals, the shortest time possible to get a new product to market is often the biggest priority (accepting that the product must meet the specifications and regulations demanded and the process must meet the required safety and environmental standards). This is particularly true if the product is protected by patent. The period over which the product is protected by patent must be exploited to its full. This means that product development, testing, pilot plant work, process design and construction should be fast tracked and carried out as much as possible in parallel. 

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