The Search for the Piloting and Scale-Up Vision of the Future

The scale-up and commercialization of new process technology inherently involves a broad range of business, market, and technology risks that must all be managed in order to be successful. Companies with a successful track record in scale-up typically have well established processes for risk identification, risk assessment and prioritization, and development and execution of risk mitigation plans. Piloting is a commonly used strategy for reducing the risk of failure at larger scale due to operational issues (fouling, plugging, corrosion, etc.), recycle problems (build-up of impurities), and process capability issues (low yield and capacity, poor product quality, etc.).
This paper will share learnings from several previous DuPont projects and discuss best practices that have been adopted over the years to effectively manage scale-up risk. Topics that will be discussed include: risk management and contingency planning, deciding what elements of the process to pilot and why, deciding what scale to pilot at, and technology transfer from pilot to commercial operations.