General Course of Project Execution

The history of the targeted planning of chemical plants is only about 100 years old [Kratz 1990, Sattler 2000], The construction of a complete new chemical plant was planned on the drawing board for the first time in 1898 by Duisberg. Prior to this, one simply built what one needed at the moment, and hence after a short time chemical plants developed a chaotic appearance. Today, long before a construction site is developed, concrete is poured, or steel is delivered, a plant already exists as a pile of paper or computer drives. 

With completion of the project study (Chapter 6), proces development comes to a certain conclusion. If all of the boundary conditions are positive, then a strategic or economic decision must be made by the responsible company division or the board of directors on the basis of the available information (project study, marketing studies, patent situation, etc.). Every delay costs money, since the test plants (mini- or pilot plant) must be operated again, albeit to a lesser extent, or because a competitor could reach the market earlier. Popular excuses for further delaying a decision are  

Process Development. Front the Initial Idea to the Chemical Production Plant. G. Herbert Vogel Copyright 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim 

The time required for this phase varies quite widely from project to project and depends on many factors. Delaying tactics are not appropriate here, since capital is required (e.g., for keeping the test plants running). However, after the preplannning permission has been granted, generally by the responsible division of the company, at least 3-6 months are required to prepare the necessary documents. If possible, the potential project leader, who will later share complete responsibility for the project with the project engineer, should also be chosen in this phase. 

At the end of this phase, an independent commision should examine the project application from the following viewpoints  

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