AICHE Pilot Plants Committee Meeting

• Presentation slides are attached:
• Agenda (PowerPoint)
• PP Benchmarking (PowerPoint)
• Nominations for Activities Chair for Area 12b is needed by Fall 2003 meeting - Send nominations to Bob Duggal
• Fall 2002 Session "Piloting for Process Intensification and Miniaturization" - 5 papers, with between 35-50 delegates in attendance. Attendance may have been higher had the room been larger
• Spring 2003 Session " New Trends and Best Practices in Pilot Plant I and II" - session now expanded into two sessions (I and II) to accommodate additional papers. Chair is Berlin Genetti (ExxonMobil), co-chair is Peter Smith (Zeton)
• Fall 2003 San Francisco Topical "Pilot Plants in Process Development"
• Michael Thien (Merck) volunteered to co-chair the session "Uniqueness of Small Scale". Cawas Cooper (APCI) is the chair
• Stephanie Sullivan (Merck) volunteered to act as Proceedings Co-Chair for the topical conference. The proceedings co-chair coordinates obtaining all of the written papers from presenting authors, and works with AIChE in putting together the conference proceedings
• Topical Chair -David Edwards (Zeton), Vice Chair- Ramesh Rameswaran (Lyondell)
• 5 Sessions are planned, with a plenary speaker introducing the first session
• Short Course : Safety Reviews, Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessments for Pilot Plant and Laboratory Equipment (Richard Palluzi, ExxonMobil)
• Topical dinner to be arranged by Cheryl Teich (Rohm + Haas - Area 12a)
• Spring 2004 New Orleans "Mixing in Pilot Plants"
• Aaron Sarafinas (Rohm + Haas) volunteered as chair. Aaron will find a co-chair from the Mixing Group (NAMF). NAMF are not normally active at the Spring meeting, so some arm twisting may be required
• Fall 2004 Austin "Bioreactor Pilot Plants" and "Elegant Experimental Methodology in Pilot Plants"
• Michael Thien (Merck) volunteered to approach Beth Junker (Merck) to chair the "Bioreactor Pilot Plants" session. A co-chair is also needed.
• Marc Privitera (Clorox) volunteered to chair the "Elegant Experimental Methodology in Pilot Plants" session. Brian Johnson (Merck) volunteered to be co-chair.
• Possible Future Titles (to be added to existing list)
• "Fuel Cell and Gas to Liquid Fuels Pilot Plants" - Spring 2005 (Co-Spon F&PD)
• "Constructability Issues for Pilot Plants"
• "Safety in Pilot Plant Design and Operation"
• "Internal or Contract Pilot Plants ?"
• "Justification and Funding of Pilot Plants"
• "Pilot Plant Tools and Techniques"
• Pilot Plant Benchmarking Presentation (see attached slides)
• Survey questions are currently being finalized
• Target final presentation in San Francisco Fall 2003
• Volunteers for benchmarking initiative were David Lyons (DOE), Marc Privitera (Clorox) and Gavin Towler (UOP). Gavin has experience in benchmarking in the refining industry (e.g. energy efficiency of refinery operations)
• Ramesh Rameswaran (Lyondell) will contact Bob Duggal regarding the benchmarking activities of other AIChE groups (e.g. ethylene producers)
• Current action items were reviewed. There was no new business.