(115d) Pathway to Process Technology Commercialization

In the refining and chemicals industry, commercialization of new process technology is not nearly as common as it was in days gone by.  Because of this, the chemical engineering skill set and institutional memory required to “scale-up” a new technology has been forgotten.  This paper presents a pathway for the chemical/process engineer to follow when commercializing a new process technology.  From defining and understanding the different scales at which process development occurs to looking at specific steps in the pathway of taking your breakthrough process concept to a commercial production scale, the proposed steps guide the engineer who has not commercialized a new process technology through the stages required to achieve techno-economic success.  The risks attenuated by each stage of the pathway are also discussed.  These guidelines help the developer of a new process technology to understand the trade-offs between risk and cost before deciding to skip a step of process technology development.