Pilot plants play a critical role in process development, bridging the gap between laboratory results and full-scale operation. Yet many projects face costly delays or failures due to unclear objectives, unrealistic schedules, or overlooked design and operational challenges. Richard P. Palluzi, P.E., CSP, brings decades of experience in pilot plant and laboratory design, construction, and safety to these challenges through AIChE Academy's Pilot Plant Design, Construction and Operation course.
We spoke with Richard about why pilot plants are essential for reducing risk in scale-up, the common pitfalls that can derail pilot plant projects, and how the course helps engineers and scientists make more informed, cost-effective decisions, from planning through operation.
In your view, what is the single most critical purpose a pilot plant serves in a development program (vs. relying solely on lab or bench experiments)?
A pilot plant lets you observe real-world results at a smaller, more practical scale than a full-size plant. It helps you understand all the potential problems a plant will encounter—not just those predicted by models or small-scale lab work. Many of these issues won't be adequately recognized in the lab. The pilot plant demonstrates all the potential system interactions, many of which are difficult to identify at smaller scales.
What are some of the biggest risks or pitfalls that come from poor pilot plant design (technical, financial, operational)?
The single biggest risk is failing to design and construct a viable unit that operates well enough to address all the issues you want to investigate. If your design is faulty, you may never get to study what you need. All the money and time spent on the program could be wasted. Cost and schedule overruns are major concerns, but the real question is whether the pilot plant will work well enough for you to do the research you need.
Can you share an example (or case study) where a well-designed pilot plant saved time, cost, or rework in later scale-up?
Proprietary issues make this difficult, but I once designed a unit to confirm the feasibility and costs of extracting a high-value element from a plant feed where it was essentially waste. All the lab work showed the process was feasible and cost-effective.
The pilot plant, however, revealed that numerous real-world issues made the envisioned process too unreliable and required major redesigns. The revised pilot plant proved the technology remained viable, but the economics were now terrible. We scrapped the program, saving a large capital investment.
How does this course help participants move from theoretical lab results to practical pilot plant decisions (i.e., bridging the “knowing” to “doing” gap)?
The course shows you all the areas you need to address to get a successful result, and helps you define what “success” really means in your specific case.
It starts with identifying why you need a pilot plant and the key issues your design must address. Most people skip this step and end up with a pilot plant that fails to meet their requirements.
The course then covers different design approaches and helps the student understand the risks they must address, depending on their design. You can’t eliminate risks, but if you understand them, you can address and minimize the problems.
Next, it tackles how to develop realistic costs and schedules and what problems you must address to keep them grounded in reality. Unrealistic projections often lead to major overruns that can stop an entire program—or even bankrupt a smaller organization.
The course also shows you how to develop a real-world commissioning plan that will actually work, along with realistic cost and time estimates. Over-optimistic plans always result in inadequate funding and insufficient time to address unknown but predictable issues. Without a realistic plan, a unit may never work properly within the time available. The course similarly addresses control, maintenance, and operational issues.
In what ways will the training help participants avoid expensive or time-consuming mistakes during pilot plant construction or operation?
It will point out problems you don’t recognize and suggest approaches that may eliminate or at least reduce these issues. The course highlights the need to carefully determine what you must do (versus what you think you must do), the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches so you can make better, less risky decisions, and how to minimize problems before they occur.
How does the course address tradeoffs — e.g., between cost, schedule, performance, reliability, and flexibility — when designing pilot plants?
The course continuously explores the tradeoffs you’ll need to evaluate based on your specific needs. Need it fast? You’ll learn which issues to assess, what you’ll need to address, and how much it will cost. Need high accuracy? You’ll discover which design features to prioritize and the challenges you’ll face. Working with a tight budget? You’ll understand what you can do, and can’t do, to reduce costs. Throughout the course, we discuss these tradeoffs and show you how each decision impacts your final pilot plant.
Richard Palluzi
Richard P. Palluzi, P.E., CSP, is a consultant on all aspects of safety and design for pilot plants, laboratories, and research facilities and operations. Learn more.
