Vitamin Tech Center: Scale-up als Herausforderung

Abstract

The task of process development is mainly the generation of data required for the construction of a production facility. This consists in both the development of new production processes and the improvement of existing ones. Profitability and product quality, along with safety and ecological compatibility, play an essential role in the design of the process. In the new Vitamin Tech Center the development begins in the development lab by selecting the optimal procedure for the scale-up, followed by mini-plant and pilot-plant activities. In the mini-plant, modular test facilities capable of being scaled up are installed on a miniature scale. Unit operations of various technical processes are usually run continuously and the equipment is mainly constructed of glass. The pilot-plant equipment consists of a state-of-the-art facilities made of steel, alloys and glass-lined steel and corresponds to a small production facility. The amount of material processed in the pilot-plant is about five hundred times that of the development lab. To support all these activities, laboratories for chemical analysis, unit operations, physical property data and materials testing are available.