Pilot-scale processing

The vast majority of these interesting biopolyesters have been studied and produced only on the laboratory scale. However, there have been several attempts to develop pilot scale processes, and these provide some insight into the production economics of poly(3HAMCL)s other than poly(3HB) and poly(3HB-co-3HV). These processes utilize diverse fermentation strategies to control the monomer composition of the polymer, enabling the tailoring of polymer material properties to some extent. The best studied of these is poly(3-hydroxyoctano-ate) (poly(3HO)), which contains about 90% 3-hydroxyoctanoate. This biopolyester has been produced on the pilot scale and is now being used in several experimental applications. 

Pilot-scale process (all others listed are commercial) (Source Electrosynthesis Co.) ... 

While clearly not strictly correct in terms of the churn of turbulent bubbles and a bimodal size distribution observed in practice, the superficial velocities to be used in commercial units were not significantly different from those used at the pilot-scale process to observe the hydrodynamics. This approach was successful in providing guaranteed performance of installed down-flow reactors. 

Manufacture of crystalline lactose from permeate derived by ultrafiltration of lactic casein whey presents special problems because of the low pH, high lactate concentration, and high calcium and phosphate concentrations (Hobman 1984). Research at the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute has led to a pilot-scale process whereby calcium phosphate complexes are partially removed before evaporation by an alkali and heat treatment to precipitate them, followed by centrifugation to clarify the treated permeate. Removal of about 50% of the calcium is sufficient to avoid problems during evaporation. 

The transition from a successful pilot-scale process or research scale to a full-scale process requires careful planning and implementation. Although a large amount of information has been gathered during the development of the process (i.e., process characterization and process verification studies), it does not necessarily follow that the full-scale process can be completely predicted. 

Outinen, M., Tossavainen, O., Tupasela, T., Koskela, P., Koskinen, H., Rantamaki, P., Syvaoja, E.-L., Antila, P., and Kankare, V. 1996. Fractionation of proteins from whey with different pilot scale processes. Lebensm. Wiss. u.-Technol. 29, 411-417. 

In moving from laboratory- or pilot-scale processing to full-scale manufacturing, it can be difficult to scale up certain types of bioseparation equipment easily for example, high g centrifuges are available as bench-mounted units (using test tubes), but an equivalent industrial machine with a similar g force is unlikely to be a cost-effective solution, even if it were possible to build a suitable unit. It would not be realistic to consider 10 or 100 identical units as a realistic alternative. Compromises are therefore required as a process is commercialized, to ensure that the process remains technically and economically feasible. 

Water is already used on an industrial scale for emulsion polymerizations, hydrodistillations, biochemical transformations and hydroformylation reactions. However, as far as I am aware, it is not being used on a large scale for traditional multi-step organic syntheses. However, pilot scale processes to produce pharmaceutical intermediates on a multi-kilogram scale using tap water as the only solvent have been successful.Therefore, it is only a matter of... 

The remaining chapters address the converse, and to many, more familiar, situation in which undesirable emulsions must be broken. This treatment progresses from a focus on commercial chemical demulsifiers that may be effective to pilot- and large-scale demulsification practice. A common theme in these chapters is the use of the fundamental concepts in combination with actual commercial and pilot-scale process experiences. Overall, the book shows how to approach making desirable petroleum emulsions, transporting and handling them, and breaking them when they become undesirable. ... 

The commercial design and optimization of a H2 PSA process still largely remains an empirical effort. A priori design of a practical H2 PSA process without the use of supporting performance data from a pilot-scale process unit may not yet be feasible for two reasons 2,72... 

Dozeman, G. J. Fiore, P. J. Puls, T. P. Walker, J. C., Chemical Development of a Pilot Scale Process for the ACAT Inhibitor 2,6-Diisopropylphenyl [(2,4,6-Triisopropylphenyl)acetyl]sulfa-... 

The design and optimization of adsorptive processes typically require simultaneous numerical solutions of coupled partial differential equations describing the mass, heat, and momentum balances for the process steps. Multicomponent adsorption equilibria, kinetics, and heat for the system of interest form the key fundamental input variables for the design. " Bench- and pilot-scale process performance data are generally needed to confirm design calculations. 

A continuous counter-current reactor system has shown great promise as a process reactor in the dilute acid hydrolysis of cellulose. However, the findings on this unique reactor system have been limited to the theoretical aspects and the proof-of-concept laboratory experiments. It has to be developed into an upscale process reactor before it is adopted into the biomass conversion process. To this end, a pilot-scale process study is being conducted at NREL. This is only the first step. To be noted here is that reactors of similar design are being used in industry it took years of developmental work, however, before they were put into commercial service. It would probably take about the same degree of investment in this case. In addition to the reactor issue, there are other important issues that need to be addressed in the dilute acid process. 

Because of the adverse effects of sulphur, a vast amount of effort has been directed towards reducing the sulphur content of coal. Mineral sulphur can be partially removed by cleaning processes, which are in widespread use, but organic sulphur, though it can be partially or entirely removed in laboratory or pilot scale processes, presents an intractable problem of removal on a large scale. For example, in coals otherwise suitable for carbonisation, processes which remove organic sulphur leave a coal residue, the coking properties of which have been destroyed. 

As remikiren was selected for dinical development, bulk quantities had to be prepared. One building block of remikiren, acid (S)-3, was prepared by an enantioselective enzymatic hydrolysis (Fig. 3) as one of the key steps [4, 5], This chapter describes the development of this enzymatic step from the lab- to pilot-scale. Process research for the enzymatic step started in March 1989 and the first batches were piloted in February 1992 on the 120-150 kg scale in a campaign for the production of 150 kg of remikiren. 

Figure 6. Seven GDS-CS polarization curves of EB/ GDL samples taken from a pilot-scale processed 450-lineal-yard roll. The excellent reproducibility also reflects uniformity of the CCM. The galvanostatic (GSS) current density between scans was 0.95 A/cm. ...

Another group of precursors for the production of optically pure amino acids include their hydantoin derivatives. An intensive search during the past two decades has led to some effective hydantoin racemases which are already used on pilot-scale processes [183-185]. 

Evolutionary operation (EVOP) was proposed by Box and Draper to answer this problem (22). Any number of variables may be treated, but in general it is limited to the two or three critical factors known already, from the pilot scale process study, to have an influence on the properties or yield of the product. By very slightly altering the values of these variables in a systematic manner - they should remain within the limits already defined as acceptable - the dependence of the product on the operating conditions can be assessed, and in some cases the process can be improved. Two level factorial designs, or the simplex (1), are most commonly used. 

In this section, a pilot-scale process that has been developed specifically for the production and purification of AdVs for gene therapy [80] is analyzed and evaluated for large-scale manufacturing with the use of the process simulator software SuperPro Designer (Intelligen, Inc., Scotch Plains, NJ). The major objective of the... 

D Agostina A, Antonioni C, Resta D, et al. (2006). Optimization of a pilot-scale process for producing lupin protein isolates with valuable technological properties and minimum thermal damage. J. Agric. Food. Chem., 54 92-98. 

Nising P. High temperature radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in a continuous pilot scale process [dissertation]. Lausanne Ecole Poly technique Eederale de Lausanne 2006. 

Figure 4.5 shows this unusual regularity for pilot-scale process of Nb electro-refining.. Similar pattern is observed for continuous electrolysis in the laboratory cell (Fig. 4.6). One can see that, though the amplimdes of the oscillations may differ significantly, the period remains constant with good precision.

This paper presents a brief state of the art review of direct coal liquefaction. The review Includes Important pilot scale processes available for the liquefaction and a brief description of the structure of coal and the chemistry, mechanism and available lumped kinetic models for the liquefaction process. It also Includes some discussions on the role of catalysts during coal liquefaction and on the use of model compounds for the understanding of coal liquefaction kinetics. Reactor design aspects are covered In a separate paper and will not be repeated here. 

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