Examples of the use of Pilot Plants to Obtain Engineering and Economic Information needed for Process Industrialization

The author's experience has not been very closely related to the metallurgical industry. However, it has encompassed the pilot plant development of several processes and equipment in broad use in the petroleum refining industry. This paper will present some principles applicable to pilot plant developments generally and will cite various pilot plant developments in the authorts experience to illustrate methods of attack, new engineering techniques discovered, and utilization of pilot plant data in econ-omic assessment and industrial scale plant design. Since most of the illustrations are from process doveloprints relating to petroleum refining, attention will be focussed on mechanical features, handling of materials and heat control (which are more closely related to metallurgical developments) rather than to variables affecting the chemical reactions in petroleum refinin