Chemical Engineering January 2018 - 30

Cover Story
is a key component that should be realized
early in R&D. Dow's Kainz says " For Dow
Coating Materials, we not only need to have
a thorough understanding of the critical requirements
of the final product - i.e. it's
application and final formulation - but how
these requirements could translate into the
properties offered by specific raw materials. "
CB&I's Portela explains that a process
they develop must create " compelling
value " for a customer. He goes on to say
that value can be defined in a number of
ways. Speaking in terms of a petroleum
refining customer, he elaborates, " Value
can be improved profitability for the refiner
relative to other process options. Value can
also be looked at in terms of a refiner's ability
to manufacture on-spec fuel products,
which may not be possible otherwise, or to
operate a unit that is inherently safer, has a
smaller environmental footprint, or meets a
new regulatory requirement. "
Ameen Razavi, director of innovation research
at Microvi Biotech Inc. (Union City,
Calif.; www.microvi.com) offers the following
advice, " Begin with the end in mind! Without
a clear, quantifiable understanding of
the eventual application, misdirection in the
development or commercialization process
becomes more likely. "
FIGURE 1. The groundwork
for technical feasibility, economics
and goal definition
is laid in the early stages of
development
yields, etc.) of the idea proposed, laboratory
work is conducted to address important
technical issues influencing the technical
and economic feasibility. "
And Kyle Self, vice president of process
technology at Chemetry offers this approach
to early-stage economic evaluations, " The
ability to vet the economics of early stage
ideas from a technical perspective is critical.
Initial economic assessments should focus
on opex [operating expense] advantages
against competing technologies, based on
a set of underlying assumptions . . . capex
[capital expense] estimates are re-examined
as the initial technical targets are achieved
and the process flow diagram becomes
clearer. The remainder of the development
process is spent reducing technical risk,
which is defined in terms of uncertainty in either
the opex or capex calculations. "
Well-defined goals. Understanding the
market needs for the product or process
under development, and what the requirements
for the final product or process are,
30
Decision points
Almost all of the experts use stage-gating
procedures within their companies to make
decisions along the developmental path.
These well-defined decision points typically
involve technical, economic and market
checks. Potential regulatory issues, where
applicable, were also cited as part of the
check. In some cases, direct customer feedback
is sought.
Microvi's Razavi agrees that re-evaluations
are necessary, but he takes a different approach,
which uses milestones for evaluations
rather than a fixed stage-gating procedure.
He defines a factor called " level
of confidence, " which " is one of the considerations
we use in holistically analyzing
whether a project should continue or not. "
Scaleup
During the scaleup phase of development,
numerous challenges to the development
may be confronted and need to be resolved.
Often, these challenges are encountered in
the pilot-plant (Figure 2). Additional laboratory
testing may be required to resolve issues,
such as those caused by raw material
variations. Understanding basic chemical
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Chemical Engineering January 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering January 2018
