USING ASPEN PLUS TO SIMULATE PHARMACEUTICAL PROCESSES – AN ASPIRIN CASE STUDY

Objective: The objective of this paper is to illustrate uses of Aspen Plus (Aspen) to pharmaceutical processes with a specific focus on the production of aspirin. Chemical process simulators such as Aspen have received little attention for pharmaceutical applications; this is due in part to prevalence of dynamic batch reactors, specialized raw materials and products often including solids and solids handling unit operations. Methods: Aspen was used to first validate an experimental study and then extended to a commercial scale process. Results: Aspen adequately reproduced the experimental results obtained from a dynamic batch reactor. Extension to the commercial scale illustrated the power of Aspen to simulate pharmaceutical processes as well as provide costing and economic analysis. Conclusions: It was found that although the modeling of this relatively simple process is more complicated than it initially seemed, Aspen was capable of handling the difficulties inherent in dealing with solids, batch reactions, and crystal growth. In addition, its optimization and economic analysis features provided enhanced flow sheeting functionality. Its batch reactor model, RBATCH, is capable of modeling batch reactors involving multiple solid-liquid reactions following various reaction rate laws

CORROSION PROTECTION OF STAINLESS STEEL TYPE 304 USING GRAPHENE COMPOSITES

Polyetherimide-Graphene (PEI/G) composites were prepared using in situ polymerization approach and thermally cured under vacuum on Stainless Steel 304 (SS304) substrates in order to be evaluated as corrosion protection coatings. Several steps curing were performed to ensure complete imidization of PEI/G composites. Dispersion of the graphene fillers in the PEI matrices was captured using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The study examines PEI/G composites as corrosion protection coatings using electrochemical techniques such as Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Furthermore, the influences of the load of graphene on the electrochemical behavior as well as the interface adhesion of the PEI/G composites are illustrated. Adhesion tests were conducted and evaluated according to ASTM D3359 standard and the long term performances of the prepared PEI/G coatings were confirmed by conducting the adhesion tests after 30 days of exposure to the corrosive medium. The study revealed that PEI may slow down the corrosion process on SS304 substrates and this protection property of PEI can be excelled by the incorporation of graphene in the PEI matrix.

A Controlled Experiment Investigating the Effects of Explanatory Manual on Adherence to Operating Procedures

Operators’ adherence to operating procedures is a crucial factor for process safety in the process industry. Instruction manuals that document Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are commonly used both as training materials and references during operation. Traditional SOP manual design emphasized using simple step-by-step instructions for how to do the tasks, but it often neglected the reasons why the steps and their specific orders should be closely followed. It is evident that operators sometimes choose to deviate from SOP intentionally if they do not understand the reasons and incorrectly deem the steps in the manual as slow or outdated. To help bridge the knowledge gap between SOP designers and operators, we advocate explanatory SOP manual design that adds the reasons for the steps in manual instructions. To examine the effect of explanatory manual, we conducted a controlled experiment using a hydraulic pump system that represented the wash operation in the electroplating industry. Participants’ performance and adherence to operating procedures (both Adherence to Production Order Procedures and Adherence to Wait Time) were measured and compared between the explanatory manual and the procedural manual conditions. The results showed that the explanatory manual had the benefit of increasing Adherence to Production Order Procedures, while time performance, Percent Duration within Bounds, and Adherence to Wait Time were not significantly affected. The finding supports the use of explanatory manuals because they have the potential to serve as an effective and economic way to improve operators’ adherence to operating procedures and process safety. Limitations of the laboratory setup were discussed.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Discovery Grant to S.C. [RGPIN-2015-04134

A model-based approach for biomass-to-bioproducts supply chain network planning optimization

Supply chain network operation for biomass conversion and utilization is one of the major areas with influence on biomass-related technological progress and commercialization activities. This paper contributes towards optimizing a biomass-to-bioproducts supply chain planning operation by considering multiple cost factors including biomass resource acquisition cost, production cost, and transportation cost as well as direct sales to meet market demands. A superstructure-based modeling approach provides alternatives of biomass processing routes towards an objective of maximizing annualized profit. The formulated model entails five echelons and is implemented on a practical supply chain operational planning case study that involves a biomass-based manufacturing company in southwestern Ontario, Canada intent on long-term business expansion and product portfolio improvement. The results obtained indicates that an optimal product mix comprising a number of products from different processing stages (including preprocessing) can be expected to be achieved, with profit mainly derived through the sales of biofiller, bioethanol, and byproducts. Importantly, the developed model demonstrates the applicability of such a model-based approach in offering insights on operational optimization to attain economic decision-making on biomass resource utilization and processing route selection

Data Analytics Techniques for Performance Prediction of Steamflooding in Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs

Thermal oil recovery techniques, including steam processes, account for more than 80% of the current global heavy oil, extra heavy oil, and bitumen production. Evaluation of Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs (NFCRs) for thermal heavy oil recovery using field pilot tests and exhaustive numerical and analytical modeling is expensive, complex, and personnel-intensive. Robust statistical models have not yet been proposed to predict cumulative steam to oil ratio (CSOR) and recovery factor (RF) during steamflooding in NFCRs as strong process performance indicators. In this paper, new statistical based techniques were developed using multivariable regression analysis for quick estimation of CSOR and RF in NFCRs subjected to steamflooding. The proposed data based models include vital parameters such as in situ fluid and reservoir properties. The data used are taken from experimental studies and rare field trials of vertical well steamflooding pilots in heavy oil NFCRs reported in the literature. The models show an average error of <6% for the worst cases and contain fewer empirical constants compared with existing correlations developed originally for oil sands. The interactions between the parameters were considered indicating that the initial oil saturation and oil viscosity are the most important predictive factors. The proposed models were successfully predicted CSOR and RF for two heavy oil NFCRs. Results of this study can be used for feasibility assessment of steam flooding in NFCRs..

New composite sustainability indices for Cradle-to-Cradle process design: Case study on thinner recovery from waste paint in auto industries

The final publication is available at Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.247 © 2017. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/In a conventional chemical process design, the main focus is on the process economy resulting in the generation of huge amounts of waste materials within the process. Such design approach demands end-of-pipe treatment, which is neither profitable due to the hefty costs of the installation and operation of large scale waste treatment facilities, nor environmentally conscious due to the potential impacts of the generated wastes within the process on the environment. The recent approach to sustainable process design has surmounted this challenge. This paper presents a new application of an already introduced composite sustainability index (CSI) that requires minimum amount of data to monitor the sustainability performance of a chemical process and troubleshoot, if necessary. Then, the CSI is applied to an existing process for the purpose of Cradle-to-Cradle design by significant reduction of the environmental impacts of the process, and the escalation of the plant profitability due to sustainable retrofitting of the plant. The CSI methodology can be applied to chemical, refinery, petrochemical, oil & energy, fuel and biofuel processes. The three main advocates have been considered in the CSI, which are the impacts of “energy” and “material” on the environment as well as “risk assessment”. The CSI is technically imperative at all engineering stages of above process plants with the aim of source reduction and environmental protection. The CSI gives process and safety engineers a competitive edge, making their designed process stand out amongst other design array. The current study proves that the CSI methodology is a powerful tool for process and safety designers, and that the process sustainability and profitability are strongly linked. So, it is specifically decisive at managerial level pursuant to strategic planning towards company's sustainability

Modeling the Interaction between β

The effect of β-amyloid aggregates on activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) which is responsible for synthesizing acetylcholine (ACh) in human brain is investigated through the two-enzyme/two-compartment (2E2C) model where the presynaptic neuron is considered as compartment 1 while both the synaptic cleft and the postsynaptic neuron are considered as compartment 2 through suggesting three different kinetic mechanisms for the inhibition effect. It is found that the incorporation of ChAT inhibition by β-amyloid aggregates into the 2E2C model is able to yield dynamic solutions for concentrations of generated β-amyloid, ACh, choline, acetate, and pH in addition to the rates of ACh synthesis and ACh hydrolysis in compartments 1 and 2. It is observed that ChAT activity needs a high concentration of β-amyloid aggregates production rate. It is found that ChAT activity is reduced significantly when neurons are exposed to high levels of β-amyloid aggregates leading to reduction in levels of ACh which is one of the most significant physiological symptoms of AD. Furthermore, the system of ACh neurocycle is dominated by the oscillatory behavior when ChAT enzyme is completely inhibited by β-amyloid. It is observed that the direct inactivation of ChAT by β-amyloid aggregates may be a probable mechanism contributing to the development of AD

Optimal processing route for the utilization and conversion of municipal solid waste into energy and valuable products

The final publication is available at Elsevier viahttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.335 © 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/A systematic design of municipal solid waste (MSW) management system can lead to identify a promising and/or sustainable way of handling MSW by processing it into energy and valuable products. In this study, a systematic framework is developed for the superstructure-based optimization of MSW processing routes. The proposed superstructure includes the potential technological alternatives (such as recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion with electricity generation, gasification followed by catalytic transformation, gasification with electricity generation, plasma arc gasification with electricity generation, pyrolysis with electricity generation, incineration with electricity generation, and landfill with electricity generation) for producing valuable products from MSW. Based on the developed superstructure, a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model is developed to identify the optimal MSW processing pathways considering two different MSW handling scenarios. For ease of the solution, the MINLP model is linearized to its equivalent MILP form, and solved in GAMS. The solution to the optimization problem provides the optimal/promising route for the synthesis of useful products from MSW under chosen economic objective function. The developed framework is applied on a case study of Abu Dhabi Emirate to find the optimal processing pathway for handling and processing of MSW into energy and value-added products. The optimization results show that an integrated pathway comprising of recycling the recyclable components of MSW along with the production of bioethanol from the rest of the waste via gasification followed by catalytic transformation can provide potential economic benefits. A sensitivity analysis is also executed to investigate the effect of key economic and technical parameters on the optimization results.Research office of the Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhab

Design and simulation of a petcoke gasification polygeneration plant integrated with a bitumen extraction and upgrading facility and net energy analysis

The final publication is available at Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.09.072 © 2017. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/The in-situ extraction of bitumen from oil sands, particularly steam assisted gravity drainage, has been the fastest growing production technology in the industry. Integrated with upgrading operations to enhance the fuel quality, the process consumes significant amounts of energy, which are currently mostly derived from burning natural gas. On the other hand, considerable amounts of petroleum coke residues are generated in the refineries. This petcoke ends up stockpiled as a waste byproduct with associated environmental concerns. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of integrating a petroleum coke residue gasification plant to the energy infrastructure of an integrated SAGD/upgrading facility. The petcoke gasification process is specifically designed to fulfill the demands of of a facility processing 112,500 barrels per day of Athabasca bitumen. Two plant configurations are compared, one without and one with CO2 capture and storage. The gasification-based polygeneration plant is modeled with the Aspen Plus flowsheeting software. Two levels of energy demands (i.e. high and low energy scenarios), reflecting the range of variability in the energy requirements of extraction and upgrading operations (e.g. steam to oil ratio), are considered. The net efficiency for polygeneration plant was determined to be in the range of 48 – 58%. The gasification of approximately 190 t/h of petroleum coke is required to achieve the power, thermal and hydrogen demands. The incorporation of carbon capture imposes significant energy penalties, which requires the addition of natural gas fueled gas turbines to meet the power requirements

Multi-products productions from Malaysian oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB): Analyzing economic potentials from the optimal biomass supply chain

The final publication is available at Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.088 © 2017. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/The economic potentials of Malaysian oil palm empty fruit bunch are realized by several motivating factors such as abundance, cheapness and are generally feasible to produce multi-products that range from energy, chemicals and materials. Amid continuing supports from the government in terms of policies, strategies and funding, manufacturing planning and decision to utilize this biomass resource requires a decision-support tool. In this regard, biomass supply chain modeling serves as the supportive tool and can provide economic indications for guided future investments. Sequential steps in modeling and optimization of the supply chain that utilized empty fruit bunch were shown. In a form of superstructure, the supply chain consisted processing stages for converting the biomass into intermediates and products, transportation networks that used truck, train or pipeline, and the options for product's direct sales or for further refinements. The developed optimization model has considered biomass cost, production costs, transportation costs, and emission treatment costs from transportation and production activities in order to determine the annual profit. By taking a case study of Peninsula Malaysia, optimal value showed a profit of $ 713,642,269/y could be achieved which has assumed a single ownership for all of the facilities in the supply chain. Besides, the tabulated values of yields and emission levels could provide comparative analysis between the processing routes. Sensitivity analysis was then performed to perturb the approximated parameters or data that have been used in this study.Ministry of Higher Education of MalaysiaUniversiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP)Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC