CONTEXT: SPECIALTY CHEMICALS The chemical industries manufacture a - - PDF document

2

CONTEXT: SPECIALTY CHEMICALS The chemical industries manufacture a wide spectrum of products: Commodities: Sulphuric Acid Ethylene Benzene Ethanol Acetic Anhydride ¸ ˝ Ô Ô ˛ Ô Ô sell for a few cents a kilo Specialties: Engineering Plastics Photographic Dyes Pharmaceuticals ¸ ˝ Ô ˛ Ô $20- 40 / kg to $1billion / kg (Factor VIII) Commodities Specialties Undifferentiated Differentiated Low Price High Price Large Volume Small Volume Long Product Life Short Product Life Continuous Dedicated Plant Multi-Product Batch Plant Acetic Acid Lucretex

3

PRICE VS ANNUAL PRODUCTION

$/kg World Production (kg/year) 1 0.1 1 10 100 109 10

10

4

SPECIALTY CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING

BULK SYNTHESIS AND PURIFICATION raw materials (commodities) wastes

• rganic chemistry
• several synthetic steps
• solvent based
• separations: distillation, extraction,

crystallization, drying, filtration reagents solvents catalysts energy active ingredients (large molecules, crystals) wastes FORMULATION INTO DELIVERY DEVICE fillers surfactants solvents colour, flavour, fragrance energy

• typically physical operations
• blending, milling, compaction,

formation of emulsions/dispersions final product to consumer

• tablets
• solution
• dispersion/emulsion
• slurry

5

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW PRODUCT Chemists in the research lab have been trying solve problems with degradation

• f a lubricant

New Lubricant Doesn't degrade as fast More expensive to make Lasts three times as long as current lubricant Market Study - who needs it? Airlines Military Small market If it can be sold for 10 times as much - lead to good profit margins Performance tests Good results in viscometer at many different shear rates Decision to test market product Large scale manufacture

• how long, at what cost?

Engineering team design campaign Process feasible Test manufacturing campaign Product a success Profit margins attractive Long term manufacture Use data from test campaign

6

PROBLEM: BATCH PROCESS DEVELOPMENT Scenario: a) Manufacture X kilos of a new product - scale-up of experimental procedure. b) Use existing equipment in multi-purpose batch plant. Questions: What unit operations to use? What solvents, reagents, catalysts? How does experimental procedure scale? How much will it cost? How soon can we have it? What materials of construction are required? What are the safety and environmental issues? How much will it cost on a larger scale (long term manufacture)? Custom manufacturers do this task on a contract basis.

Process synthesis/design/operation problem.