(116c) Enabling Process Development -- From Lab Scale to Commercial Production

Since 1986, Zeton has specialized in the design and fabrication of pilot plants for the process industries. Specifically, Zeton's engineers and technicians design and build skid-mounted modular plants. Each customer project involves process development and the introduction of new technologies. Pilot plants range in size from small lab scale systems at one end of the spectrum to industrial demonstration plants at the other. With a number of customers, Zeton has been involved in every stage of the development of the process - lab scale, pilot scale and demonstration scale.

The three different scales of pilot plants each present their own challenges and opportunities. Small lab scale plants permit the use of novel, beta-version designs. Pilot plants often present the first window into continuous processing, where the effect of recycle streams on a catalyst can be studied. For demonstration scale plants, where capital and operation costs are much high, the process design must already be well developed to permit longer operating runs, often for catalyst lifetime studies, or the generation of significant quantities of product for market testing.

Our presentation will outline the three different scales of pilot plants used across the process industries, and highlight a few of their similarities and differences.