Integrated Chemical Product-Process Design: CAPE Perspectives

In chemical product design, we try to find a (chemical) product that exhibits certain desirable or specified behaviour. This can be a single chemical, a mixture, or a formulation, where an additive is added to the original chemical product (molecule or mixture) to significantly enhance its desirable functional properties. Examples of chemical products, such as functional chemicals (solvents, refrigerants, lubricants, etc.), agrochemicals (pesticides, insecticides, etc.), pharmaceuticals & drugs, cosmetics & personal care products, home and office products, etc., can be found everywhere. An important criterion for development of many chemical products is to achieve “first time right” by establishing critical scientific and regulatory parameters early on and eliminating errors early in the design and development processes. There are chemical products where the reliability of the manufactured chemical product is more important than the cost of manufacture, while there are those where the cost of manufacture of the product is at least as important as the reliability of the product. Thus, product-centred process design is also very important. Identifying a feasible chemical product, however, is not enough, it needs to be produced through a sustainable process. The objective of this presentation will be first to define the general integrated chemical product-process design problem, to identify the important issues and needs with respect to their solution and to illustrate through examples, the challenges and opportunities for CAPE/PSE methods and tools. Integrated product-process design where modelling and supply chain issues play an important role will also be highlighted.