“Bridging the Valley of Death”: Overcoming Commercialization Obstacles

Session Chairs:

• Stacie Santhany, The Dow Chemical Company
• David Edwards, Zeton

Session Description:

There are so many important stage-gates to overcome to get a process or product from invention to commercialization.  The purpose of this session at PDS17 is to invite experts in the field to share their commercialization successes and pitfalls.  Whether in manufacturing, research and development, regulatory, marketing, sales, and/or supply chain, the story will be critically important to the process development and the success of the commercialization and each function will rely on the success of the others.  Each speaker in this session at PDS17 may have a slightly different story to tell, because we have invited speakers from small, large, and consulting companies. 

Schedule:

Abstracts:

Process Commercialization – The Importance of Good Project Management

John Pace, Chemical Process Solutions, PLLC

Commercial success for scaling new or modified processes into manufacturing can be measured in terms of economics, meeting key investment objectives; as well as by product quality, meeting the expectations of customers. The time to commercialization and the cost to construct and operate these processes play a large role in defining economic success. The ability to consistently produce the product within accepted quality limits enables the desired financial performance to be realized. The technical quality of the piloting and scale-up work has a large impact in all of these areas. Equally important, and sometimes overlooked in the early stages of a development project, are several aspects of good project management. Development project management has a significant impact on the ultimate performance of a new or modified process. This presentation will focus on several topics which, if done properly, can have a major positive effect on commercialization success, including:

• Formation of the development team
• Early concept development
• Development and scale-up risk assessments
• Planning and executing the experimental program
• Effective communications
• When to proceed to commercial design
• What to do between developmental “hand-off” and start-up
• Team continuity through start-up
  
   

The Impact of Intensity: Process Development and Deployment – GTI’s Biofuels, Gasification, and Advanced Power Initiatives

Martin Linck* and Dr. Ganesan Subbaraman, Gas Technology Institute

Process intensification helps to commercialize new technologies that are cost-effective and environmentally friendly. The recent experience of the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) demonstrates the importance of process intensification when it is applied to the development of biofuel technologies, gasification processes, and advanced power systems. Four process examples help to make this connection. The IH²® process, an optimized second-generation biomass conversion technique, benefits from a first-stage reactor wherein biomass feedstocks are devolatilized and deoxygenated in a single step. The Compact Gasifier program combines a revolutionary Dry Solids Pump with a proprietary gasifier based on rocket engine technology. The sCO₂ Brayton Cycle uses supercritical carbon dioxide as the working fluid in power plant turbomachinery to improve process efficiency and thereby reduce fossil carbon emissions and increase sustainability. Finally, GTI’s Compact Hydrogen Generator has demonstrated the potential to produce hydrogen in one step, and power via a hydrogen turbine, at significantly reduced CAPEX and OPEX while also reducing CO2 capture costs. In each case, a strategy based on process intensification has provided unique advantages and enabled rapid progress toward commercialization.

Sustain the C2C Pathway

Vinay V. Gadkari, Battelle

Experiencing the advancement of conceptual ideas to reality is undoubtedly the pinnacle of achievement for innovators. However, the journey between those two ends is very arduous and challenging and as a result, several seemingly breakthrough ideas cannot sustain the concept to commercialization (C2C) pathway when they fail to realize the programmatic milestones resulting in loss of stakeholder and investor confidence. Consequently, successful product/process technology development initiatives often use comprehensive frameworks that integrate market facing elements and the techno-economic aspects with dynamic business models that could quickly adapt to the challenges encountered during the development cycle. Such initiatives create value through technical breakthroughs and build positive equity while retaining or boosting investor confidence throughout the process leading to highly successful products and technologies