Develop the Right Innovative Concepts Using Early Stage Process Design

In this age of open innovation, collaborative research, and global interactions, we are not at a loss for ideas for and concepts for the next great product or technology. Access to a wealth of ideas provides virtually unlimited access to new technologies or products, possibly allowing for a quicker route to commercialization as compared to focusing solely on internal R&D. However, it creates a new challenge in that we must be able to quickly, and successfully, identify ideas for further development and scale-up.

Early stage process design techniques should be used to identify and select concepts for future development and scale-up, as well as to provide metrics and targets for technology development. Early stage process design includes engineering calculations, process economics, and life cycle analysis to support the technology development effort. This talk will provide the speaker’s experience with using this approach to support technology development in an industrial setting. Examples will include:

• The successful design, engineering, and implementation of a novel distillation system
• An early stage technology that looked promising, until the scale needed for a key reaction step was evaluated
• Incorporating life cycle concepts into early stage process design