Transcript Lanny Robbins presentation

A 37 Year Career in
Process Development
Dr. Lanny A. Robbins
Research Fellow
The Dow Chemical Company
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Process Development Division
Award
Thank You
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Beginnings
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PhD ChE Iowa State University 1966
Slide Rule, Graph Paper, Typewriter
Handbooks and Textbooks
A few mainframe computers
Thesis on reaction mechanism at 2200 oF
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The Dow Chemical Company
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Pilot plant for water soluble polymers
Plant Start-up in Mexico City
Liquid extraction pilot plant for Ag Chem
Developed melt crystallization process
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Promoted Miniplant Concept
• Conceptualize successful commercial
process
• Scale-down to smallest scale possible to get
data for design
• Generate data at plant operating conditions
• Scale-up to commercial success
• High success rate
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Liquid-Liquid Extraction
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Product recovery from reactor effluent
Waste water purification
Catalyst removal
Schweitzer’s Handbook
Perry’s Handbook
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Stripping Solvents from Water
• Highly non-ideal VLE
• Air stripping perchloroethylene
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Easily strip to 4 ppm
Double gas flow and strip to 2 ppm
Double gas flow again and strip to 2 ppm
Double gas flow again and strip to 2 ppm
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Scale-down Packed Columns
• New packing pressure drop correlation
• New generalized liquid loading and
gas loading factors
• Mass transfer correlations from small
packing to commercial sized packings
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Liquid Distribution
on Packed Column Beds
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Invented new liquid distributor design
Licensed patents to Nutter/Sulzer
Over 450 installations in Dow
Low liquid loading in rectification
50 to 1 turndown demonstrated at FRI
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Distillation Process Control
• Distillation Control Strategies
• Optimizing Quality Performance
• Tuning Process Control Loops
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Pressure Swing Adsorption
• Hot Gas PSA
– Beds of 3A molecular sieves
– Dehydrate ethanol for gasoline
• Sorbathene PSA for vent emission
control
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Without Disclosing How
Chem Eng Magazine 2001
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BioTech Lactic Acid
Process Development
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Fermentation of corn sugars
Biomass separation
Water removal
Product purification
Lactide monomer process
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No More Pilot Plants?
The Scientific Method
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Define the problem and the opportunity
Search and understand the state-of-the-art
Develop a hypothesis, i.e. a concept or a model
Design & run experiments to test the hypothesis
Evaluate, summarize and document the results
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Risk Management
• A mathematical computer model is
a well articulated hypothesis
• When we build a plant we will test
the validity of the hypothesis
• It is only a question of the size of
the first fully integrated process
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Risk Management
• We tend to require about 30% modification
of the first fully integrated process plant
– Miniplant
– Pilot Plant
– Semi-plant (Market Development Plant)
– Transportable Modules
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Ability to Handle Difficult Chemistry
is a Competitive Advantage
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Flammable Chemicals
Toxic Chemicals
Bio Chemicals
Waste Handling and Disposal Capabilities
High Pressure
Computer Control System
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Create Value for the Organization
• Learn to strike a balance between the “risk”
of making a mistake because of insufficient
data and the “cost” of generating enough
data for everyone to be comfortable
• Collaborate, i.e. add your creative energies
to what others are contributing
• Work like a big accordion, i.e. make music
whether you are being stretched or squeezed
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