The Organization of a Chemical Engineering Project

Asset utilization is lower for batch plants, as the plant almost inevitably is idle part of the time. 

The fixed costs of production are much higher for batch plants on a /unit mass of product basis. 

Given the higher fixed costs and lower plant utilization of batch processes, batch processing usually makes sense only for products that have high value and are produced in small quantities. Batch plants are commonly used for 

Even in these sectors, continuous production is favored if the process is well understood, the production volume is large, and the market is competitive. 

The design work required in the engineering of a chemical manufacturing process can be divided into two broad phases. 

---