Pilot Plants, Area 12b History

The Pilot Plants programming area/committee (was Area 12a, now Area 12b) has been active within AIChE since the 1980's with an average of two programming sessions at the AIChE Annual and National Meetings. It was the only functional area in the Engineering Group (Group 12) of the AIChE National Programming Committee.

The Pilot Plant area was an industrial based programming group, which evolved from a petrochemical constituency to include participants from specialty chemicals and pharmaceutical companies, as well as a minor academia component.

In mid-1990's the Pilot Plant committee/area scope was broadened beyond programming, to include other activities such as benchmarking, networking, university-industry interactions, and others. The need to expand beyond Pilot Plants to upstream and downstream process development activities became obvious.

Following November '96 Chicago Conference Pilot Plants Committee Meeting, the group name was changed from "Engineering" to "Process Development", and the Pilot Plants area became one of the 4 proposed areas of the new Group 12 - Process Development.

The Pilot Plant leadership evolved further during the establishment of the Process Development Group (1996-1999). The current leadership is shown under the Structure page.

Years	Area Chair	Vice Chair
1984-1988	Rich Palluzi (Exxon)
1986-1988	Hank Kohlbrand (Dow)
1988-1990	Shiah Cherney (Chevron)
1990-1992	Paul Szabo (Xerox)	Dennis Olander (3M)
1992-1994	Dennis Olander (3M)	George Liebermann (Xerox), 1994
1994-1996	George Liebermann (Xerox)	Prabir Basu (Searle)
1996-1997	Prabir Basu (Searle)	Mark Langer (SC Johnson)

Unit Operations in Process Development
Bob Duggal – Ethyl
David Edwards – Zeton
Technology Transfer
Prabir Basu – Searle
Brian Swierenga – Parke-Davis

Safety and Responsible Care
John Corn – Ashland
Rich Palluzi – Exxon
Pilot Plant Reaction Engineering
Kamlesh Bhatia – DuPont
Cawas Cooper – Air Products
Poster Session: Pictures of Pilot Plants
George Liebermann – Xerox

Experimental Strategies for Pilot Plants
Juergen Hozhauer – Amoco Chemical Co.
Mark Langer – S. C. Johnson Polymer
Waste Optimization in Pilot Plants
Shiah Cherney – Chevron
Rich Palluzi – Exxon

Process Design of Pilot Plants
Mark Langer – S. C. Johnson Polymer
Stan Yoslov – Chicago Chemical Consultants Corp.
Pilot Plants in Pharmaceutical Industries
Prabir Basu – Searle
John McCall – Hoechst Celanese

Safety Practices in Pilot Plants
Juergen Hozhauer – Amoco
Archie Bennett – Zeton, Inc.
Pilot Plant Operations
Prabir Basu – Searle
Mark Langer – S. C. Johnson Polymer

Modelling and Simulation in Pilot Plants (Joint session with group 10a – Syst. & Proc. Design)
Shiah Cherney – Chevron
Reed L. Christensen – Eastman Chemical
Donald Harvey – Lubrizol
Pilot Plant and Scale-up Education (Joint session with group 4 – Education)
Kamlesh K. Bhatia – DuPont Science & Engineering
Prof. Robert L. Kabel – Penn State University
Dennis Olander – 3M

Inst. & Control Systems in Pilot Plants
Prabir Basu – Searle
Shiah Cherney – Chevron Research Co.
Chemists & Chem. Engrs. in the Pilot Plant
Paul Szabo – Xerox
Lewis Grisby – Witco

Analytical Methods in Pilot Plants
Joe Lambert – Parr Inst. Co.
Shiah Cherney – Chevron
Env. & Regulatory Issues in Pilot Plants (Joint Session with Group 9 – Environmental Div.)
Dennis Olander – 3M
Stan Yoslov – Amoco

Pilot Plant Equipment Selection
Neal Zislin – BP America
David Dickey – Robbins & Myers, Inc.
Design of Pilot Plants for Safety
Larry Flatley – Exxon Chemical
Charlotte Farmer – Eastman Chemical

Process Scale-up in Pilot Plants
Paul Szabo – Xerox
Juergen Holzhauer – Amoco
Viscous Mixing Phenomena and Scale-up of Polymerization Processes (Joint Session with Group 3a – Mixing)
Davis Hubbard – Michigan Tech.

The Role of Pilot Plants in the Commercialization of Processes
Kamlesh Bhatia – DuPont
Paul Szabo – Xerox
Analytical Methods in Pilot Plants
Joe Lambert – Xytel
Ed Barthelmes – Autoclave Engineers

Scale-up/Scale-dn Approach in P.P. Des & Op
Paul Szabo – Xerox Research Centre of Canada
Dennis Olander – 3M
Health, Env. And Safety Considerations in Pilot Plant Design and Operation
George Liebermann – Xerox
Shiah Cherney – Chevron

Hazards Evaluation in Pilot Plants – Minimizing the Chance of War Stories
Keith Hayes – Dow Corning
Shiah Cherney – Chevron Research Co.

No Sessions Sponsored

Building vs. Buying Pilot Plants
Shiah Cherney – Chevron

Instrumentation and Controls in Pilot Plants
Rich Paluzzi – Exxon Res. & Eng.
Round Table Discussion on Pilot Plants
Startup Problems
Jay Khadye – IMP Systems, Inc.
Shiah Cherney – Chevron

Retrofitting Pilot Plants with New Instrumentation
Richard Chylla – S. C. Johnson and Son, Inc.
Rodger Kruse – S. C. Johnson and Son, Inc.
Health, Environmental, and Safety Considerations in Pilot Plants
Shiah Cherney – Chevron Research Co.
Henry Kohlbrand – Dow

Pilot Plants in Specialty Batch Organic Synthesis
Paul Szabo – Xerox
Larry Flatley – Exxon Chemical Co.
War Stories on Pilot Plant Equipment
Larry Flatley – Exxon Chemical Co.
Paul Szabo – Xerox

History of Group 12 b (Pilot Plants)

Pilot Plants Area leadership:

1997 Meetings

1997 Spring – Houston

1997 Fall – Los Angeles

1996 Meetings

1996 Spring – New Orleans

1996 Fall – Chicago

1995 Meetings

1995 Spring – Houston

1995 Fall – Miami Beach

1994 Meetings

1994 Spring – Atlanta

1994 Fall – San Francisco

1993 Meetings

1993 Spring – Houston

1993 Fall – St. Louis

1992 Meetings

1992 Spring – New Orleans

1992 Fall – Miami Beach

1991 Meetings

1991 Spring – Houston

1991 Fall – Los Angeles

1990 Meetings

1990 Spring – Orlando

1990 Fall – Chicago

1989 Meetings

1989 Spring – Houston

1989 – San Francisco