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Batch process optimization via CAPD and simulation

The SuperPro Designer provides the means and the framework to analyze, communicate, and document process changes, to transfer or scale-up technology and also plan, debottleneck and optimize production. More and more batch industries enjoy the benefits from the use of CAPD tools. In the future, we can expect to see increased use of this technology and integration with other enabling technologies, such as advanced process control, automated batch recipe generation, and online analysis and optimization. The result will be more robust and efficient processes, developed faster and at a lower cost, making higher quality products.
In the development and commercialization cycle of new products the significance of process development is often overlooked despite the fact that without skillful process development many of the new products would never have found their way to market. In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, the commercialization of a new drug is a painstaking process that takes 7 to 12 years to complete requiring sizeable investments ranging from $100 million to $500 million and with 80 to 85% of products failing somewhere in the development pipeline. With process development contributing to a small fraction of the overall cost and rarely comprising the make-or-break factor, it is no surprise that its importance is often underestimated. This, however, is bound to change. As chemicals become increasingly complex and competition puts more pressure on profit margins, more significance is going to be placed on developing novel processes, decreasing production costs, increasing efficiency and doing the design right from the start to avoid the significant costs associated with making process changes later on.