Pathway to Process Technology （途径来处理技术）.pdf

Pathway to Process Technology Commercialization – 115d Daniel D. Euhus, Ph.D., P.E., Sabic Americas, Inc., Sugar Land, TX Steven F. Sciamanna, Ph.D., PolyDiamond Technologies LLC, Orinda, CA Paul F. Bryan, Ph.D., Chem. Biomolecular Eng. Dept., Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA Abstract In the refining and chemical process industries, the commercialization of new process technology is not nearly as common as it was in days gone by. Advances in process technology tend to be incremental, rather than major innovations. Because of this, the institutional capability for the chemical engineering skill set and company experience required to “scale-up” a new process technology has been eroded or lost entirely. This paper presents a pathway for the chemical/process engineer to follow when commercializing a new technology. From defining and understanding the different scales at which process development occurs to looking at specific potential steps in the process of taking a new process concept to a commercial production scale, the proposed steps help the engineer through the stages required to achieve success. The risks attenuated by each stage of the process are also discussed. Appreciating these risks allows the new technology developer to understand the trade-offs between risk and cost before deciding whether to include or skip a step of process technology development. Introduction Chemical and process engineers often think of process design as something that occurs when it is time to build a commercial facility. Often we think of questions like, “What order of process unit operatio