The AVN Blog

A customer wanted to evaluate the potential to produce larger quantities of an experimental polyolefin product previously made in small lab-scale batches. AVN set up a larger autoclave to perform the reaction as a semi-batch process for more efficient operation. The product was shown to have the desired properties, and… Read More

A distillation column in a plant operated by a customer was observed to have visible corrosion occurring. AVN staff met with the customer’s project team and discussed causes for the observation, with consideration of the location, composition of liquid and gas streams, temperature and materials of construction. Options were presented… Read More

A new route to a target product was being considered by a customer, who wanted to demonstrate it at laboratory scale before proceeding further with development. The process involved addition of hydrogen cyanide, a highly toxic chemical. AVN set up a laboratory unit to generate the HCN and feed measured… Read More

A new route to a desired product was conceptualized by a customer, but it was not certain whether the process would be practical. Several process steps were involved, one of which included continuous addition of butadiene. AVN demonstrated all of the process steps and showed that each step could be… Read More

A project being pursued with a customer produced a high-boiling mixture that needed to be separated by distillation to yield two separate products. AVN simulated the separation with Aspen Plus and designed the pilot-scale system to demonstrate the operation experimentally. The unit was operated to generate design data for larger-scale… Read More