Structure of Batch Processes

More recent examples include Ampac Fine Chemicals (AFC) in California, who implemented a multipurpose continuous small-scale plant for the production of several hundred tons of API per year [31], and Sigma-Aldrich s Fine Chemicals, which has been adding continuous-process technology within its Buch facility [32]. 

Overviews of batch process design are available within the literature [35, 36] however, it is useful to summarize the main features when considering the arguments for B2C. A batch process is one where the individual steps of the manufacturing cycle are carried out in discrete intervals, resulting in frequent start-up and shutdown of the unit operahons involved. Thus, a scheme that requires 

Despite their flaws, batch processes have stood the test of time for a number of reasons, the most important of which is the flexibihty it brings to the manufacturer in terms of the range of products that the plant can produce, the feedstocks used to produce them, and the speed at which they can be brought to market with very limited information on physical properties, reaction kinetics, and so on (very few, if any, Michelin-starred chefs have ever measured the rheology or kinetics of their latest culinary creation). This flexibility, however, has a price which comes in the form of lower efficiencies in terms of production, energy, labor, and so on, and ultimately efficiency equates to cost However, one should never underestimate the pull of flexibility particularly, as discussed earlier in the examples of fermentation, where control of important parameters is difficult to achieve. 

The product synthesis steps also dictate the type and number of downstream equipment necessary. Depending on the scale of operation this workup may 

---