330128 The Interplay of Simulations and Experiments On Varying Scale in High-Pressure Polymerization Technology
Product development in high-pressure polymerization technology is a specifically demanding task. First, operation procedures from large-scale technical practice cannot be scaled down to typical lab application one to one. Second, competitive high-pressure polymerization plants operate on a scale of significant more than 100 kt/á production capacity. Both, the significant scale up as well as limitations in miniaturizing laboratory equipment are still a remarkable challenge in designing strategies for product development in high-pressure polymerization technology.
The actual trend shows two lines of action in this respect. Referring to production plants on world-scale basis the specific problem is understanding the coupling of polymeric microstructure to process conditions. Central points are the optimization of such processes and systematic developments with respect to product properties. The majority of these tasks is realized by modern simulation methods utilizing models being based on elementary kinetic mechanisms. These shall insure that the model has predictive potential and is scalable over several orders of magnitude. The application of such models is investigating diverse variants of a process. The predictive potential is crucial in this respect. Another aspect is detailing the polymeric microstructure. In order to optimize the efficiency of such models hybrid technologies are the method of choice the merge the advantages of deterministic and stochastic modeling. Both aspects will be discussed using selected examples.
For production facilities of medium production scale the main interest is assuring ongoing competitive ability. The benefit from economy of scale is no longer a striking argument. However, an option is the development of products of better performance or of a novel type. At his point, new chemistry and / or process variants come into play. Simulations can help at this stage to investigate trends and analyze principle feasibility. However, experimental demonstration and investigation of feasibility is indispensible at this point. Specially designed high-pressure mini-plants and in case of exploring process variants proper fragmentation of the overall idea are helpful at this instance. Even in case the exploration is successful, it is not a matter of course that an idea reaches finally the implementation on large scale. A safety-assessment under relevant process conditions is indispensible before implementation. As time permits, examples will be provided for any of the addressed aspects.
Finally, the differing characteristics of typical mini-plant reactors and production type reactors have to be considered. Again, here simulation models can be extremely helpful as long as these are robust along the varying scale.
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