Britest study for chemical processes

1. Purpose

The Britest Study for chemical processes methodology is a suggested workflow to aid facilitators who are leading Britest studies on chemical processes with any of the following objectives:

• Process development for new chemical routes
• Scale-up and/or tech transfer
• Process improvement
• Troubleshooting for established processes or processes under development

The duration of these studies can vary from 0.5 to 2+ days depending on the nature of the challenge and usually  involves multi-disciplinary teams of 6 to 12 people.

2. Who should be involved

Depending on the nature of the study, consider involving people with the following roles:

• Facilitator(s) - for larger studies it is recommended to have two facilitators with complementary skills. It is particularly advisable to have two facilitators when using the Facilitator Support Tool.
• Business representative or project sponsor with knowledge of where the project sits in the business portfolio
• Project manager with knowledge of project timeline, customer requirements, etc
• Chemists
• Engineers
• Quality Assurance/Quality Control/Analytical chemists
• People with experience of the process (lab technicians and/or plant operators)
• Techical experts in relevant fields
• "Cold eyes" expertise to challenge current thinking

3. Information requirements

Depending on the nature and timing of the study, the following information can be useful:

• Batch records, process instruction sheets, or process recipes
• Mass balance data (yields, where yield losses occur etc)
• Process Flow diagram (or a pre-prepared Process Definition Diagram)
• Information on chemical structures, mechanisms, intermediates (or a pre-prepared Transformation Map)
• If possible also include any physical processes that might be rate limiting, such as dissolution or mass transfer/ transport.
• Process safety, health and environmental data
• Raw material costs and specifications
• Product value and specifications
• Process costs (by stage, covering costs such as operation, waste, energy, manpower) to help the team “chase the value”
• Physical properties for the main reagent(s), products and impurities where known
• Any development reports
• Plant line diagrams and schematics of vessels

Where information isn't available - usually not all of it will be - the study will identify what data is important to find out, and actions will be agreed for collecting further information.

4. Methodology

4.1 Britest study for new process development

This procedure should be used where there is still a lot of flexibility in how the process may be operated, e.g. in early development.

Step	Tool/methodology	Purpose
1	ISA and PrISM	Define the problem, agree the focus of the study and choose the appropriate tools and approaches to use	Where needed, use Rich Pictures and Cartoons to discuss detail
2	Transformation Map	Construct qualitative transformation map models of the key reaction task(s) in the process
3	DFA	Construct DFA models to analyse these tasks in more detail
4		Brainstorm process concepts using the DFA model as a resource. Include work-up options
5	PDD	Describe the whole process concepts
6		Action planning to agree and address key information gaps
7		After further process development you may wish to carry out a further Britest study using the scale-up / tech transfer approach to review the process.

 

4.2 Britest study for scale-up / tech transfer, process improvement or troubleshooting

Step	Tool/methodology	Purpose
1	ISA and PrISM	Define the problem, agree the focus of the study and choose tools and methodologies to use	Where needed, use Rich Pictures and Cartoons to discuss detail
2	PDD	Describe the whole process or selected complete stages of the process
3	Transformation Map	Construct qualitative transformation map models of important tasks in the process
4	DFA	Construct DFA models to analyse these tasks in more detail
5		Brainstorm process concepts using the DFA model as a resource; update PDD
6	DuDES	Define equipment duties to aid equipment selection (capital spend or siting in existing assets)
7		Action planning to agree and address key information gaps

 

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4.3 Comments on action planning

Always allow time at the end of any Britest study for prioritisation of actions and for planning work to address these. This is most effectively done using the Britest Facilitator Support Tool software. 

Prioritise actions	Quick and easy actions Actions vital to confirming process understanding Proof that high-gain ideas work
Decide and agree responsibility and deadline for each action
Where actions concern information collection:	How will information be acquired? Agree the detail of experimentation, e.g. exactly what will be measured and how.

4.4 General comments on methodology

The procedures outlined in this section are only guidelines. Iteration of these studies will be required as actions are completed and understanding increases. All processes, and therefore all Britest studies, are different, so flexibility is necessary in applying the methodology. In general, start with a good ISA and use this to help guide you where to go next.