To have a broad impact on pollution prevention at the source in the chemical process industries (CPI), a multifaceted approach to the underlying fundamental problems is needed. Developing totally new processes involves huge new capital investments in order to affect a fraction of the pollutants produced by the CPI today. With many trillions of dollars invested in existing chemical and oil refining plants in the U.S., it will be many years before research directed at totally new processes will have widespread impact on pollution reduction. In order to have an important effect in reducing the production of pollutants in the next 10-20 years, focusses process revamps which require modest capital investments and maximize the impact of pollution reduction are desirable. These approaches, while complementing important research on totally new processes, can have greater impact in the next two decades because they require the least investment and produce the greatest benefits. A requirement for success is identifying good candidates for process modeling, design, and operation in order to achieve the desired pollution reduction goals. This research is directed towards developing new basic engineering tools for analyzing and designing processes so as to make modifications for pollution prevention, and then demonstrating the tools and the underlying principles on real problems form the CPI. This research consists of fundamental studies of new basic engineering tools for precision process technology directed towards improvements in process design and process operation so as to eliminate pollution at its source. The project will be broken into four components: (1) The application of detailed process models and the emerging results in dynamic stability theory in order to create parameter maps in process design and operation space which simultaneously satisfy product specifications, production goals, and process dynamics which avoid process runaway episodes or large scale venting for safety reasons. (2) The development of fundamental control strategies for nonlinear processes subject to runaway because of process sensitivity and limited controller power (e.g. limited heat transfer capabilities). (3) The development of general principles and strategies for product grade transitions for high volume processes in which off-spec product must be disposed of as waste. (4) The development of new polymerization processes which avoid the use of solvents in production and ultimate application. The research will be carried out in collaboration with some of the twelve industrial sponsors of the University of Wisconsin Polymerization Reaction Engineering Laboratory (UWPREL).
