(133a) The Evolution of Chemicals R&D in the Information Age

Most strategic decisions regarding product and process development need to be made in the initial phase of a project lifecycle.  In today’s competitive environment, R&D teams are under constant pressure to produce results faster with fewer resources.  Decisions must be made based on limited data obtained during a very early phase.

In the past, the difficulty in the access to quality information and the lack of suitable tools led to spend significant time and effort to produce realistic economic estimates, and get a sense of the opportunity attractiveness in early stages of the project workflow.  The great dilemma experienced by R&D teams was: develop an estimate too quickly but inaccurate or develop a detailed estimate but spending too much time and effort.

In recent years, the world is experiencing constant technological advances reflected in the increasing flow of information through the internet and the exponential growth in the processing power of computers.  The easy access to huge amount of information and innovative engineering tools have completely re-invented the workflow of processes and project development.  The combined use of extensive public information sources, such as patents and articles databases; conceptual process and equipment design tools; rigorous process simulators; and consistent cost information are re-shaping how R&D teams are doing and managing research.

This session will cover how to make the most of all available resources to evaluate new products and process, in a fast and accurate way, during the conception stage.  Also, it is disclosed how to define metrics to help R&D group to conduct their projects, either internally or through partnerships with research centers and universities.

Currently, there are research firms taking benefit from this approach, significantly reducing cycle time of their projects and increasing the number of alternatives assessed by their staff.  Also, there are already companies relying on sale of services based on these concepts, which would be impossible decades ago.

Two cases are presented as illustrative examples: the acrylic acid production from sugar fermentation and ethylene production from ethanol dehydration.  These processes technologies were quickly assessed from few public available information and hypothetical assumptions allied with engineering tools.