Process Development Division Plenary

Richard Palluzi of ExxonMobil and Joseph Powell of Shell will be participating in this year's Process Development Division Plenary session.  

Richard Palluzi will first give a talk on "Pilot Plants: Past, Present, and Future."  Joseph Powell will then give a presentation entitled "Process Development: Managing Risk and Expectations."

Interview with Joseph Powell

Process Development: Managing Risk and Expectations

Abstract:

Process development is a key phase which determines whether ideas can be successfully commercialized, or whether they should be abandoned.  Spending accelerates dramatically upon progression from research to full development, and with this comes greatly increased expectations from all stakeholders.  Risk of failure may not be fully apparent to business sponsors, as many of the failure modes will not be evident until development is attempted.  On the other hand, technology opportunities with high earning potential will provide incentives for risk taking and rapid deployment.  Effective management of these competeing interests requires close communitcation between the technology organization and business sponsors in assessing and balancing risk vs. opportunity.

Process Development as a discipline earns its value in ability to rapidly identify show stoppers, and in finding ways around identified roadblocks, where possible, before extensive spending and time have been allocated to major programs or pilot tests.  Approaches and best practices in managing spending vs. level of risk reduction will be the subject of this seminar, including some case histories and examples.