MaPS (Managed Process Synthesis). A methodology, integrated with the experimental programme, to develop a flow sheet. - A first step

摘要

Chemical processes are relatively expensive and time consuming to take from the initial and pilot plant stages through to the final flowsheet. The costs are significantly increased because at times experiments are performed without the process design in mind. This leads to doing experiments that may be unnecessary or at conditions, which are different from those that are used for the design of the processes. Furthermore most of the opportunities for making significant improvements to the process occur at these early stages and so one would like to explore a wide range of options. Thus one needs a suite of simplified experimental techniques, which allow one to get results quickly and with the required accuracy. This is particularly true as various options may be discarded at a later stage and one does not want to have wasted time. A good approach is first to look ahead to the expected process flow sheet, and then work backwards to generate the relevant data. The process flowsheet is then modified as required and the experimental programme altered to take account of these changes. One then continues to iterate until a final flowsheet is determined. This approach, which is different from the conventional process synthesis method, we call Managed Process Synthesis (MaPS). This paper starts a process that will demonstrates that with simple well-designed bench chemical experiments, most of the cost involved in the initial design of a plant can be eliminated and that the overall cost of the project can be significantly reduced. The integration of chemistry and chemical engineering knowledge in deciding the necessary first experiments and the experimental conditions that are needed to get the relevant design information is briefly explained in this paper.