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A collection of presentations and other helpful documents.
Scale Down...to Scale Up More Efficiently
The time and cost required to scale-up a new technology has been well documented. We can reduce the time and cost for scale-up by looking at the commercial design during the early stages of process development. This forms a basis to then 'scale-down', prioritizing the key variables and unit operations required to optimize the design and reduce technical risk throughout scale up. In addition, commercially proven unit operations can often be identified which can be adapted for the new process. Real world examples will be used to illustrate the advantages of this approach. More Info from AlCHe Academy
Using the Best of Biology and chemistry for sustainable solutions
While fuels and chemicals continue to be predominately produced by conventional, thermochemical means, bio-based routes are growing in importance. As bio-based process technology and supporting tools become more relevant at scale, a trend is developing in which hybrid systems couple a thermochemical conversion process with a biological conversion process. Examples include thermal conversion of biologically derived materials such as biomass and vegetable oils to produce fuels and chemicals directly, thermal conversion of biological materials to prepare a feedstock suitable for a biological process, and thermochemical conversion of biological produced alcohols and organic acids to produce drop-in fuel and chemical products
This presentation will review both commercial and emerging examples of such coupled systems, and demonstrate the advantages of each, along with caveats and limitations. Finally, comments on future directions of such systems will be presented.
Leveraging separations to improve sustainability of chemical processes
Typically, separations technologies for chemical processes are designed to ensure that the desired product(s) meet technical requirements such as purity and that the overall process economics are optimized. We can improve the sustainability of the chemical products by also considering separations that improve energy efficiency, reduce waste and avoid toxic solvents, entrainers, and adsorbents. This presentation will use real world examples to review developments in this area and outline strategies to select and design separations technologies for more sustainable chemical products. More Info from AlCHe Academy
high value bioproducts - a necessary detour on the road to a robust bioeconomy?
Broad deployment of technologies for renewable fuel and commodity chemicals has been slowed by scaleup and implementation challenges, often driven by poor economics. An emerging trend sees startups and existing companies in the renewable/bio space shifting towards higher value products, including flavors and fragrances, proteins for fish, animals and humans, and high value, low market specialty chemicals. While the products are quite different from fuels and commodity chemicals, the underlying technology for these higher value products is similar in many ways.
This may be a temporary, but necessary, detour on the road to a robust economy that enables value creation while technical challenges in scale-up are addressed. As the industry collectively progresses in scale, the technical developments for these small scale, high value products can be leveraged to improve the technologies to make biofuels and commodity chemicals, creating value in larger markets and reducing greenhouse gases at a meaningful level.
Start with the Process Concept
The process concept, or conceptual design phase, is the first step in a successful commercial project life cycle. For an established technology this phase may be 2-4 months in order to determine economic viability of a project and enable discussions with investors. For a new technology, this phase should be a key part of the entire R&D and scaleup activity, setting the framework needed to drive towards a commercial process design that is feasible both technically and economically