1. WHY DO PILOTWORK ANDCAREFUL SCALE-UP?
The old adage of “measure twice,cutonce” isjustas true inthe processindustriesasintailoring. In
industry,the emphasison gettingthingsdone fastandstraighteningoutissueslaterhasledmanya
company intosome verybad (if notfatal) swamps. Anastute processengineerwhowarnsManagement
that a processis notreadyfor prime time doesnotgeta warm reception…he istypicallytoldto“make it
happen…we’ll correctthe detailslater.” But – correctingthose “details”canbe verypainful….typicallya
stemto sternre-engineering. Asa veryseniorengineerinaFortune 500 Companyremarkedtome
more than 30 yearsago: “There is nevertime todoit right,but there isalwaystime todo ittwice”.
Unfortunately,that’sjustastrue todayas it was inthe 1970’s.
I define “pilotingaprocess”assettingupa sequence of chemical engineeringoperationsthatmimicthe
proposedcommercial operationsascloselyasfeasible,butata much reducedscale,say1:100 to 1:500.
Why pilotaprocessthat heretofore hasonlyexistedinabench-topglasswareapparatus? Because what
isfeasible inglasswaremaynotbe feasible inthe real world. Atthe practical level,it’seasytodumpa
500 ml glassreactor intothe trash if the processgetsout of hand,butnot so much a 1000 gallon
stainlesssteel reactor. Also –be realistic–yourpilotprocesswill reveal deficienciesnotcaughtin
glassware thatwill entail movingequipmentaroundandchangingoperatingparameters. A well
designedpilotunitwillallow changestobe easilymade…..trydoingsimilarrearrangementsonce a
commercial unitisweldedandwiredtogetherinanoperational commercial processfacility.
Why pilotaprocess??Because continuousoperations canunleashdemonsnotanticipated inglassware.
A typical glassware operation runsduringthe workingday(knownasShiftII),upat 9:00 am and downat
3:30 pm. Most of these set-upsare notrobustenoughforovernight,semi-unattendedoperation. But –
inthe real world,operationsare at24/5 – aroundthe clock, 5 days a week. A well designedpilotunit
will permitcontinuous small scale operations…..andwill allow impuritybuildupandsecondorder
effectsthatwouldnotbe seeninlimitedtimeoperations. Bettertofindthese outona small scale then
to be surprisedina commercial unit.
Lastly,pilotingaprocesswill allow operatingpersonnel forthe future commercialprocesstogain
valuable experiencerunningasmall-scale operationthatwill be invaluable whenthe real unitstartsup.
It’sbetterto make mistakesona small scale andlearnthan learningthe same lessonsona large unit.