Pilot Plants Manufacturing, Design & Scale Up

Our pilot plant is a 27,000 square-foot, Class 1 Division, II-certified facility. Designed for maximum flexibility, it enables us to rapidly reconfigure equipment for a wide range of experimental procedures and processes. Our team of chemical engineers and technologists is supported by electricians, machinists, and instrumentation personnel.

Xerox Research Centre of Canada has years of experience in Pilot Plant Design and implementation. With our pilot plant facilities we can easily allow for the scale-up of chemical processes and large scale sample supply.

Pilot Plants Scale Up at a Glance

• Commissioned in 1982
• Evergreen facility designed for flexibility and versatility
• Multi-purpose facility:
  • polymerizations
  • organic syntheses
  • electronic and composite material synthesis
  • pigment processing
• 28 reactors
• 5 gallon to 500 gallon scale
• Proven track record of new process/product delivery since 1985
• Completed >12,000 RD&E experiments
• Database of over 170 processes

Pilot Plant Infrastructure

• Reactors: 5 gallon to 500 gallon (SS, glass-steel)
• Tanks: 1 to 350 gal (SS, CS, glass-steel)
• Filters: 5 to 100 gal (SS, polypropylene; atm/pressure filters)
• Centrifuges: 5 to 100 gal (SS; Filtering + Decanting)
• Dryers: Tray vacuum, fluid bed, rotating cone
• Particle processing: Mills, agglomerators, attritors
• Cross flow filters (SS, plastic)
• Microfluidizers
• Crystallizers
  • Ultra-high pressure (245 MPa) disperser/emulsifier

The Pilot Plant Process conditions

• Temperature: -30°C to +300°C
• Pressure: 0.01 to 4,800 kPa

Process Control for Pilot Plant

• ABB (800XA) Distributed Control System (DCS)
• 6 Process Operator Interfaces (HMI's)
• Data Logging and Historian Servers
• Over 1000 IO points and loops (monitored and controlled)

Pilot Plant Process Equipment

Stainless Steel Reactors

• Small 316SS Reactors, 2 gallon to 30 gallon (10)
• Large 316SS Reactors, 50 gallon to 500 gallon (7)
• Maximum temperature = 300°C, Maximum pressure: 4,800 kPa

Glass-lined Reactors

• 6 Small glass-lined reactors (5 gallon to 30 gallon)
• 4 Large glass-lined reactors (50 gallon to 200 gallon)

Separation Equipment

• Vacuum filters
• Pressure filters
• Centrifuges
• Membrane filtration (ceramic and polymer)
• Filter-Dryers

Drying Equipment

• Fluidized bed dryer
• Flash dryer
• Vacuum tray dryers
• Spray dryers

Milling Capabilities

• High-energy mill
• Horizontal media mill
• Microfluidizer
• Attrition mill
• Piston homogenizer
• 3-Roll mill