(77a) Pilot Plant Essentials: The Tools for Successful Chemical Startups

Pilot Plant Essentials: The Tools for Successful Chemical Startups

The product cycle processes of tech based startups and chemical startups are inherently different.  Tech startup thought leaders teach entrepreneurs to hit the ship date even if all the kinks aren’t worked out.  Later a patch can be uploaded by customers to fix bugs or add functionality at minimal cost to the startup.  

Chemical startups differ significantly as processing plants are capital intensive and must incorporate safety, equipment lead times, and construction efforts.  Adopting an entrepreneurial approach chemical startups can deliver against the fast paced timeline while designing the flexibility required to commercialize a first of its kind technology.  The tools for success in first of their kind applications is a clearly defined and executed experimental order, key learning report, and resulting mass balance. These efforts must be demonstrated in the pilot plant scale to provide reason to believe to the investors prior to commercial scale investments. 

The keys to a successful pilot plant will be reviewed including the validation of instruments and test methods, plug and play equipment, and the team behind the equipment.  Case studies will exemplify pilot plant applications in recent entrepreneurial efforts.