Pilot plant development

Dehydrogenation of Propionates. Oxidative dehydrogenation of propionates to acrylates employing vapor-phase reactions at high temperatures (400—700°C) and short contact times is possible. Although selective catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of isobutyric acid to methacrylic acid have been developed in recent years (see Methacrylic ACID AND DERIVATIVES) and a route to methacrylic acid from propylene to isobutyric acid is under pilot-plant development in Europe, this route to acrylates is not presentiy of commercial interest because of the combination of low selectivity, high raw material costs, and purification difficulties. 

Experience has shown that reactive chemistry hazards are sometimes undetected during bench scale and pilot plant development of new products and processes. Reactive chemistry hazards must be identified so they can be addressed in the inherent safety review process. Chemists should be encouraged and trained to explore reactive chemistry of "off-normal operations. Simple reactive chemicals screening tools, such as the interactions matrix described in Section 4.2, can be used by R D chemists. 

What is going to be the first area of broad, commercial ionic liquid application This is probably the question most frequently asked of everybody who is active in developing ionic liquid methodology. The answer is not easy to give. Some petrochemical processes are ready to be licensed or are in pilot plant development (as described in Section 5.2), but there is still some time needed to bring these applications on stream and to claim a broad replacement of existing technologies by ionic liquids in this area. For some non-synthetic applications, in contrast, the lead time from the first experiments to full technical realization is much shorter. 

Another pilot plant, developed by at Kyoto University, was used for the Grignard exchange reaction at the same productivity as the batch reactor (10 m3) by adding only four microflow systems of the present scale (Wakami and Yoshida 2006). A multitubular reactor is the core element of the microprocessing plant (see Fig. 17). Stable yields of approximately 95% could be demonstrated for a 24-h run. 

Bulatovic, S., Laboratory and pilot plant development testwork on recovery of titanium and zircon from Wimmera heavy mineral sand, Report of Investigation, p. 330, 1992. 

The first commercial application of olefin disproportionation was in 1966 87) Shawinigan Chemicals Ltd. at the Varennes complex near Montreal, Quebec brought onstream the Phillips Triolefin Process88) for converting propylene into polymerization-grade ethylene and high-purity butenes. Pilot plant development, reported by Johnson 89), showed that during a 20-hour test propylene conversion remained nearly constant at 43 per cent and efficiency of converted propylene to ethylene and n-butenes increased from 93 to 99 per cent. 

Pilot plant development was carried out to provide data for process and engineering design as well as economic evaluations. The pilot plant also served to provide active carbon for research and evaluation studies. The major pieces of equipment used to carry out the pilot plant process development are depicted in their flow sequence in Figure 2. Since it was decided at the onset to concentrate on studying each process step rather than being distracted by materials flow problems, there was no actual continuous flow of material from one piece of equipment to another. Each operation was carried out and studied independently. Any material produced was stored in sealed barrels or drums and was moved to the next operation when needed. Moreover, the outputs of the various pieces of equipment were different. In terms of pounds of active carbon per hour, outputs ranged from 25 to 110. 

Lebel, G., Pilot Plant Development of the Chemetics Ti02 Waste Acid Recovery Process, paper read at Sulphur 1990, Cancun, Mexico, Apr. 1-4, 1990. 

Canadian Occidental s interest in oil-in-water emulsions is related to marketing and transportation of Athabasca bitumen and heavy Alberta crude oils. A laboratory and pilot-plant development program was initiated in late 1984 at the Occidental Center (formerly the Cities Service Technology Center) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The program has included the following features ... 

These experiments served as a basis Tor l)NT pilot plant development 40. Toluene Ivas a low solubility in niuattc acid, subscquenily. toluene is added just... 

Some data from a pilot plant series covering a wide salinity range, listed in Table III, illustrate the approximate scope of the pilot plant development work. The experiment described is neither one of the most nor of the least successful. The units for the Eilat plant were designed by combining the conclusions from the data of the runs in the Israeli pilot plant with the experience of the American partner in component and process design in other fields of chemical engineering. 

Not every pharmaceutical will eventually be comminuted by supercritical fluid nucleation, not every polymer processed for molecular weight control by supercritical fluid extraction, not every flavor concentrated by supercritical fluid extraction but some will be. Two applications listed in the table are already in commercial production, and several are in advanced pilot plant development and test market evaltiation. Hops extraction is being carried out by Pfizer, Inc. in its plant in Sydney, NE (33), and General Foods Corporation has constructed a coffee decaffeination... 

The Chemical Corps gave top priority to the investigation of these compounds. Of the compounds investigated, VX was selected in 1957 for pilot plant development and dissemination studies. It was standardized in December 1957. The annual report for that year concluded The reign of mustard gas, which has been called the King of Battle gases since it was first used in July 1917, will probably come to an end. 129(pl00)... 

Early in 1962, following Phillips Management s decision to develop the Triolefin Process, laboratory studies were resumed and expanded. In addition to conducting a detailed investigation of cobalt molybdate catalyst systems, an extensive search for other catalyst compositions active for olefin metathesis was made. Concurrent with these investigations were studies designed to expand the scope and explore other applications of olefin metathesis reactions. Pilot plant development of Triolefin Process technology was initiated about six months after laboratory studies had been resumed. 

Pilot plant development of Triolefin Process technology, requiring about four years, including establishing preferred feed composition, purification techniques, catalyst composition, catalyst activation and regeneration procedures, process conditions, and cycle length. Catalyst life was also determined in repeated cycles and certain design premises (e,g, temperature differential in the reactor) were demonstrated to be valid. 

Technology for a number of applications of olefin metathesis has been developed (, fO At Phillips, potential processes for producing isoamylenes for polyisoprene synthesis and long-chain linear olefins from propylene have been through pilot plant development. In the area of specialty petrochemicals, potential industrial applications include the preparation of numerous olefins and diolefins. High selectivities can be achieved by selection of catalyst and process conditions. The development of new classes of catalysts allows the metathesis of certain functional olefins (, 14). The metathesis of alkynes is also feasible (15) ... 

There is no quantitative limit on small quantities and so the interpretation is left to a common sense judgment of what is appropriate for a lab scale or pilot scale testing program. In an early proposed rule, the EPA noted that a numerical limit would be arbitrary because different types of R D involve different quantities of R D materials. For example, bench level research, pilot plant development, and production testing all require different quantities of R D material. The EPA noted that 80,000 gallons of crude oil has been categorized as a small quantity in a pilot plant that operated over several months. ... 

R D activities include physical and chemical analysis of the substance and experimentation, as well as research on the substance s production and performance characteristics. The statute says that R D includes research on another substance, and the EPA has interpreted this to mean that the R D substance may be used as a reagent, a standard or an intermediate. Production testing and pilot plant development as well as efficacy and performance testing are also R D activities. ... 

Pilot plant development in the laboratories of the R D Centre was carried out in several campaigns (above 1000 hours total operation), during which 10 totmes of pure electrolytic lead were produced. The energy consumption was 0.9 kWh/kg Pb. Representative samples of electrolytically recovered lead had purities above 99.99% Pb, containing 3 ppm Cu, 6 ppm Sb, 2 ppm As, 1 ppm Sn and 2 ppm Bi. Those data likely could be improved in a continuous industrial plant. 

As a project for manufacturing a new or existing chemical by a new process progresses from laboratory research through pilot-plant development to a decision for plant construction, a number of process-design studies of increasing complexity may be made, accompanied at each step by capital-cost estimates of increasing levels of accuracy as follows ... 

Meline, R. S., H. L. Faucett, C. H. Davis, and A. R. Shirley, Jr.. 1971. Pilot Plant Development QfJbLe Sulfate Recycle Nitric Phosphate Process, Journa/ o//ndustria/ and Engineering Chemlstrif, Process Design Development, 10 257-264. 

However, the company offers the ZE 25 System for pilot-plant development of any product, including polymer blends. KraussMaffei Berstorff compounding lines are designed to be tailored to customer s specific product and process requirements. They offer extensive process engineering know-how in all k processing and extrusion applications for plastics and other base materials. 

In recent years, the three companies mentioned above have developed three membrane modules (Fig. ll.la-c) employed in the pilot plant developed by Tecnimont KT in Chieti Scalo (Italy) within the framework of the Italian FISR project Pure hydrogen from natural gas through total conversion reforming obtained by integrating chemical reactions and membrane separation . 

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