AICHE Pilot Plants Committee Meeting

DIVISION 12, AREA 12B
NOVEMBER 14, 2000
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Present :
John Corn - Ashland, Bob Duggal - Ethyl, David Edwards - Zeton, Peter Smith - Zeton, Shiah Cherney - Chevron, Cawas Cooper - Air Products, Ka Ng, Hong Kong University, Rashad Bahrani - Kraft, John Battler - Triquest, Willis Bell - Eli Lilly, Jihchin Chung - Du Pont, Wayne Davis - Dupont, John Iverson - Pfizer, Anita Katti - FeRx, Tom Kenat - Kenatech, Kamel Maker - Dupont, Oldrich Mikus - AECI, Peter Smith - Zeton, Steve Tillery - Rohmax, Eric Townsend - Xytel, Jack Vinson - Pharmacia, Michael VonDeak - Pharmacia, Stan Yoslov, Aaron Sarafinas - Rohm + Haas, Glen Wheeler - Eli Lilly, Cassandra Forthefer - Eli Lilly, Ernest Levenberger - Xytel, Mitchell Loescher - CD Tech, Sanjay Joshi - Bayer, Paul McKenzie - Bristol Myers Squibb

Welcome, Introductions and Mission Statement

On behalf of Bill Dale, who was unable to attend the meeting, Bob Duggal, Area 12b Vice-Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting. A copy of the membership list was circulated for addition/correction by those attending. David Edwards agreed to act as secretary for the meeting. The Area 12b Mission Statement was reviewed, and there was agreement that it summarized the main activities and purpose of the Pilot Plants Committee.

Review of Group 12 Steering Committee Meeting - Wash D.C, July 7, 2000

The salient points of interest from the Group 12 Committee meeting in Washington D.C. were discussed. In summary, Group 12 : Process Development is now the Process Development Division. Special credit and appreciation was extended to Ka Ng for his work in realizing divisional status in such a short time. Divisional status means that the activities of the Process Development Group will be expanded to include such events as forums, service awards, international networking and outreach (Asia, Europe). A set of deliverables has been prepared by Bob Duggal for comment and review.

Atlanta (Spring 2000) and Los Angeles (Fall 2000) Session Reviews

The Pilot Plant Area Sessions delivered during the Atlanta and Los Angeles conferences were reviewed. Attendance for all sessions was in the 30-50 delegates range.

Houston (April 22-26, 2001) and Reno (Nov 4-9, 2001) Session Reviews

The Pilot Plant Area Sessions scheduled for the Houston conference in Spring 2001 and the Reno Conference in Fall 2001 were reviewed. There is one session scheduled for Houston titled "Polymerization Pilot Plants". The chair is Bob Duggal, and the Vice-Chair is David Edwards. To date, six papers have been received for this session, with the possibility of one or two more being added before the submission deadline. After some discussion, it was determined that there is no scheduled activity for Area 12b at the Reno conference, where there is a Process Development Division Topical Conference on Batch Processing. David Edwards volunteered to act as the IChemE (UK) liaison person for the Reno conference if overseas papers are being considered for the Reno topical.

New Orleans (March 10-14, 2002) Session Reviews

The Pilot Plant Area Sessions selected for the New Orleans conference in Spring 2002 were reviewed. There will be two sessions :

Process Improvements in Existing Processes	Sanjay Joshi agreed to be (co)chair
R&D, Plant and Corporate Interaction	Eric Townsend agreed to be (co)chair

Indianapolis (Fall 2002) Session Allocation

One Pilot Plant Area Session was selected for the Indianapolis conference in Fall 2002 :

Process Intensification/Miniaturization in Pilot Plants

David Edwards agreed to be the chair

Future Programming/Activities

The possibility of the Pilot Plants area hosting a Topical Conference in Fall 2003 was discussed. It was agreed that the Spring 2003 meeting was more appropriate as the delegates are a more industrial-based group. The suggested topical theme will be along the lines of "The Role of Pilot Plants in Process Development", and there will be 6 sessions. A topical chair will need to be identified. This topic will be discussed further at the Spring 2001 meeting in Houston, and all details will be finalized in the Fall 2001 meeting in Reno.

Aaron Sarafinas volunteered to pass the details of this 2003 topical conference on to Dennis Hendershot, who is the leader of the Safety Division within the AIChE. There may indeed be a safety session, with an opportunity for co-sponsoring.

Tom Kenat is writing a book on pilot plants, and needs some real life pilot plant success (not horror) stories, with pictures, to augment his text. All contributors will be credited, and will receive a limited-edition, signed copy of the text book upon publication!

Review of Action Items from Last Minutes

No contacts were needed, and none were identified, for the Reno conference.
No contacts were needed, and none were identified, for the Reno conference.
David Edwards will continue as IChemE liaison person on an ongoing basis.
An Area 12b topical conference will be held in Spring 2003 (see 7. above).
Past session topics/content has been posted on the Group 12 web page.
The Call for Papers Coordinator for Area 12b is David Edwards. The 'Job Description' for the Call for papers coordinator was discussed. The other items on the action list (Membership survey/list, Volunteer coordinator and Pilot Plant Benchmarking Presentation Schedule) were not discussed.
Electronic publication of proceedings was not discussed further, and will be left for a future Area or Division meeting. Electronic publication of proceedings is wider issue for consideration by the Process Development Division as a whole.

Benchmarking Pilot Plants Discussion

The topic 'Benchmarking of Pilot Plants' was discussed in some detail. The discussion was broken down into four parts :

What is Benchmarking ?

best practice
specific to each field or industry or type of pilot plant
specific to type of equipment

Ideas for Benchmarking

heat and/or mass balance closure and reproducibility
cleaning, validation and verification in the Pharmaceutical industry
EH&S standards
work practices/processes
objectives (types of process knowledge)
staffing, scheduling and record keeping
level of automation
training
measuring success
accelerating catalyst life tests
risk vs. cost equation/balance
scale-up factors (ratios, definitions)
priority setting for outside work
QC in pilot plant fabrication
analytical support issues

Benchmarking Methodology

one-on-one visits to member(s) facilities
15 minute presentations at committee meetings
member survey, possibly on-line via the internet or e-mail

Next Practical Step

Shiah Cherney volunteered to consider and develop these benchmarking ideas further
Bob Duggal volunteered to assist in this process
target the results of the first benchmarking study for the 2003 Spring Topical Conference !

Outstanding Action Items

Task	Responsibility	Due Date:
Identify Chair for 2003 Topical Meeting on Pilot Plants and finalize topic : two suggestions are "The Role of Pilot Plants in Process Development" and "Pilot Plants : The Uniqueness of Small Scale"	Area 12b Team	April/2001
Explore co-sponsorship of 2003 Topical Meeting with Dennis Hendershot/AIChE Safety Division	Aaron Sarafinas	April/2001
David Edwards to act as IchemE (UK) liaison and publicist.	D.Edwards	On-going
Provide real-life accounts of pilot plant successes to Tom Kenat for his book on Pilot Plants	All	April/2001
Further develop the program for benchmarking of Pilot Plants based on L.A. discussion	Shiah Cherney/Bob Duggal	April/2001
Determine Area 12b Leadership responsibility assignments: Call for Papers Coordinator Membership Survey/List Volunteer Coordinator Pilot Plant Bench-Marking Presentation Scheduling	Area 12b Leadership Team	April/2001
Consider electronic publication of proceedings, in consultation with other Areas in Group 12.	Area 12b Leadership Team	April/2001

Next Meeting

Date/Time	April 24, 2001	5:00-6:15 PM
Place:	Houston, Texas.

D. Edwards
November 21, 2000