Warm reaction to proposed new measures

• A review of temperature controls during different production phases can lead to savings
• Fine chemical producer explored optimal control settings to save on heating and cooling needs 

In order to obtain certain product properties in chemical reactions, it is important to monitor the temperature during the start-up phase, shut-down phase and reaction phase. But this can be a complex balancing act, especially when multiple process are being managed at the same time, and inefficiencies can be a costly affair.

One fine chemical producer uses several batch reactors in its production process, and was missing a comprehensive 'control strategy' to harness reactions of the various batches more accurately.

The company was looking to optimise temperature controls by factoring in information coming from the reaction process. This takes into consideration: 

• The variable ratio of the volume of reactor content to so-called jacket volume
• Modification of reaction speed in line progress/demand
• Better use of expelled heat from exothermic reactions for subsequent applications
• Final cooling with an adapted cooling medium volume (i.e. variable and efficient cooling)

Key benefits

These measures, the company was pleased to learn, could help to reduce heating and cooling energy needs and respective costs, as well as rationalise consumption of cooling medium.The real selling point of the system is that it can be implemented with relatively minor disruption to production processes and financial impact.