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Scale-Up of Chemical Engineering Process Chapter 1: Introduction of Scale-Up Processes

This document discusses scale-up of chemical engineering processes. It defines scale-up as successfully starting up and operating a commercial-sized unit based on experiments at a smaller scale. Scale-up is needed for market growth, new processes, and reducing costly mistakes. There are three categories of increasing difficulty: well-defined processes that are easy to scale up, difficult but quantifiable processes like reactors, and particulate processes that are very difficult to scale up. The conventional approach involves stepping up carefully from lab, to bench, to pilot, to demonstration and commercial scales to reduce risks from large investments.

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402 views12 pages

Scale-Up of Chemical Engineering Process Chapter 1: Introduction of Scale-Up Processes

This document discusses scale-up of chemical engineering processes. It defines scale-up as successfully starting up and operating a commercial-sized unit based on experiments at a smaller scale. Scale-up is needed for market growth, new processes, and reducing costly mistakes. There are three categories of increasing difficulty: well-defined processes that are easy to scale up, difficult but quantifiable processes like reactors, and particulate processes that are very difficult to scale up. The conventional approach involves stepping up carefully from lab, to bench, to pilot, to demonstration and commercial scales to reduce risks from large investments.

Uploaded by

kaye
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Scale-Up of Chemical Engineering

Process

Chapter 1: Introduction of
Scale-Up Processes
by
Nurul Sa’aadah Sulaiman

Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering


saaadah@ump.edu.my
Definition of Scale-up

“The successful startup and operation of a


commercial size unit whose design and
operating procedures are in part based upon
experimentation and demonstration at a smaller
scale of operation”

(Source: Bisio & Kabel, 1985)


Definition of Scale-up

“Indeed, to a very significant extent, scale


up is Chemical Engineering”
-Prof. G. Astarita
Why Scale-Up

Scale up is basically needed for:


• Market growth
• Introduction of new processes
• Reduction in making expensive errors in design
and operation
• Concentrate on addressing areas of doubts and
uncertainty
• Economic feasibility
Scale-up

How to scale up from


small scale to large scale?
Scale-Up theory and Calculation

There are three categories of scale up:


1. WELL-DEFINED, EASY AND QUANTIFIABLE
(e.g. distillation, heat exchanger, absorption etc.)

2. DIFFICULT BUT QUANTIFIABLE (e.g. reactors)

3. VERY DIFFICULT AND RARELY CAN BE


QUANTIFIABLE (e.g. particulate processes)
Scaling up Step by Step

• Product and process development for scaling


up is typically move in small steps.
• For instance, the development is initially from
lab scale to bench scale then move to pilot
scale and finally to commercialization scale.
• By performing scale up step by step, the risk
with large investments could be lessen.
• The following figure illustrates the
conventional scale up procedure for bio fuel.
Conventional Scale-up Procedure

(Source: Biofuels International Magazine, November 2012)


Conventional Scale-up Procedure

1. Bench or laboratory scale


- This is an early-stage tools to assess and scaling new
product or technology

2. Pilot Scale
- Pilot scale is a first view into continuous processing of a
product

3. Demonstration scale
- In this step, the process flowsheet is closely resemble
commercial scale operations.
ESSENTIAL STEPS
BASIC DATA

PROCESS ANALYSIS
TECHNOLOGY CHOICE PROCESS
MODELLING

LABORATORY MOCK-UPS
PILOT PLANT

VALIDATION OF MODEL SCALE


UP

INDUSTRIAL UNIT
(Source: Euzen et al. 1993)
Production Capacity

Table below shows the general production capacity of


each scaling up step in the process industries.
Scaling factor Typical production
capacity
Bench/ Laboratory 0.001 – 0.1 kg/h
Pilot Plant 10 – 100 kg/h
Demonstration Plant 100 – 1000 kg/h
Commercial Plant > 1000 kg/h
STEPS IN DEVELOPMENT OF A PROCESS
Exploratory Stage

Process Concept; Conceptual Design

Development of individual steps

Evaluate Abandon Development

Preliminary plant flowsheet

Miniplant & pilot plants

Evaluate Abandon Development

Integrated pilot plant


Evaluate Abandon Development
(Source: Vogel, H. 1992)
Design of Commercial Plant

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