Scale-Up of Chemical Processes

What is scale-up of chemical processes? Scale-up of chemical process is a complete field that tries to reproduce the results we get in the laboratory at different stages, sizes and levels, at the production stage. We use the equipment at that stage to determine the status of production conditions—that is, their stability and reproductivity—and to predict exactly what will happen.

We start manufacturing according to a complete and closed protocol, typically generating a product according to all the specifications. The productivity becomes satisfactory enough to generate good income for the company, and we have no problems in the operation. So, this is the main task. After that, we may change the equipment’s size, or move it from one place to another place, where the process becomes completely stable via the production equipment; the name of this activity is transfer technology.

When we talk about scaling up chemical processes, we’re talking about the first time that we advance the process from the lab to the production step. How do we define this in simple terms? Simply put, scaling up is the capability to transfer the process from lab to production without issue by solving all the problems that can be generated by different size—in terms of the material’s quality, productivity and travels during the operation.

What are the key drivers for scaling up a chemical process? Here, we have two parallel worlds. One world is that of business. In this business world, a company wants to sell our products, our pipeline, so our sales and marketing people approach customers and motivate them to use our service and buy or consume our products. When there’s a deal, or once the customer is somewhat interested in buying or motivated to buy our products, the company will come to us and tell us, “We succeeded. The customer wants our products.” Additionally, if we are in the pipeline during the development stage, management will tell us, “You remember this sample you gave us to provide to these customers, according to their request? We succeeded; they want more.”

Well, now we’ve entered the second world: technology. And in the technology field, we need to combine our knowledge of the chemical affinity between the materials with our knowledge of the equipment we have available to manufacture at the next step. We need to generate answers for the company as to what is possible under their conditions; or, we need to promote some changes for the equipment in order to manufacture the next step in a satisfactory way.

This endeavor is a little more complex because it’s not like we have infinite resources and only pure technology. No, it’s the opposite. Normally, the resources are very well defined and are very constrained. We may have only one piece of equipment, and its range of operation, to work with. We then need to take the process into these conditions, which may be suboptimal or may be adequate but not perfect. But because we are in a scale-up, and the product being generated is not the best, we still need to try to generate the sample with the equipment we have because we will not invest in something we can’t do business with.

This type of situation can generate a lot of challenges for our professionals—people like you who are in the stage of scale-up, where the process must be transferred under very big constraints, with new processes, and in certain environments in which you’re trying to generate results with your materials. So, this is the point at which we manage the scale-up of chemical processes. The point is the scale. If we have enough resources, the chemical processes will occur without problems; we will never need to generate the same condition in the next step. But the point is, if we don’t have what we need to accomplish this, we need to generate more characterization.

What is the difference between lab scale, pilot scale and commercial scale operation? The question may seem completely complicated, but the answer is very, very simple: because the raw material that you are using is the same, the process is the same, and you succeed in the lab. So, your mission is to understand what the main change is. Because the materials and processes are similar, the only reason deviation may occur in the results is because the interaction between the materials you are generating in your equipment—in the mixing—may be different.

So, if you are able to identify those parameters, you can understand the physics behind the numbers of these parameters. You can then connect this understanding to the process and find the answer. So, while you will read a lot of literature claiming how difficult and complicated scale-up is, know that if you reduce the activity to what was just explained, you will find what you need to be looking for. And what you need to be looking for is an understanding of the physics you are generating with your equipment, and how close the conditions previously used are to what’s currently being used to generate the material being provided to the market.

This is the point. It seems to be difficult but is simple in concept and practice, because mixing and flow in the physics through the process is so multi-dimensional and nonlinear that we need to deal with a group of parameters. To do this, we need to explore more deeply the meanings of micro mixing, main period of circulation and macro mixing phenomena, and how these parameters influence the source of chemistry, quality, productivity and operation. This can be done with the best chemical mixing software.