Chemical Engineering June 2019 - 18

ABB
Orchestration layer
Operations
Supervisory
control
Architectural network
Module layer
MTP
MTP
MTP
FIGURE 5. Standardizing skid automation can be
thought of like a printer driver, defined by NAMUR
Modular Automation as a Module Type Package (MTP)
in response to increasing demand
for practical resource-recovery solutions,
particularly from smaller-scale
solid-waste treatment plant operators,
allowing end users to create
Class A bio-fertilizer product during
the waste treatment process.
Another new area for modularization
is in specialty and pharmaceutical
processing, where the switch is
being made from batch processing
to continuous flow chemistry, because
they are starting to realize
that cost benefits can be achieved
by moving from batch to continuous
processing, says Costello. Often,
when making the switch, these processors
take a modular approach.
" The cost and size of the plant is
much smaller when employing continuous
processing in these types of
facilities and when you have smaller
plants, as compared to batch processing,
it's very amenable to do so
in a modular fashion. "
Besides reducing cost and size, it
increases their flexibility. " If possible,
we build the plant with modules that
can move around. You may have a
reactor here, a crystallizer there, a
filter under a crystallizer, and so on.
And, if modules are built correctly,
owners
can move them
around
into a new configuration if products
change, " explains Costello.
Another new market includes bioderived
chemicals and fuels, says
Koch's Schafer. " Many of these products
are being created by start-up
companies with a great idea for a new
route to a product, but who need to
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18
hire a company with chemical process
engineering expertise to get them to
a full-plant-constructed solution that
is economical, flexible and safe. As
a result, we've gotten involved in assisting
several such companies with
the development of these processes.
And, because they want to get this
new product to market as quickly as
possible, modular construction makes
sense as it is inherently faster. "
Case in point, Koch Modular recently
worked with New Jerseybased
start up Primus Green Energy
on its natural gas-to-liquids technology,
specifically their processes for
converting
natural gas to drop-in
gasoline and methanol via reforming,
reaction and distillation unit operations.
Koch assisted Primus with
engineering services supporting the
process conceptualization and pilottesting
phase and, later, the development
of the process design package
and the forthcoming detailed engineering
and construction of its first
commercial-scale system.
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JUNE 2019
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Chemical Engineering June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering June 2019
