【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】The technology for producing isooctanoic acid by reacting octenal with hydroxide was evaluated as a scientific and technological achievement from 1882 to 2024
Thread Content
Safety first. Prevention first: Let’s praise and encourage the achievements made in China’s chemical technology and equipment industry. **********************【Ten Years of Great Development in Chemical Equipment】A continuously updated summary post is available; feel free to join the discussions at https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Forum Website) ***************** On the morning of May 21, 2024, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation organized a meeting in Zhangjiagang to evaluate the technological achievements related to the production of isooctanoic acid through the reaction of octenal with hydroxide. The technology for producing isooctanoic acid by reacting octenal with hydroxide was developed jointly by Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co., Ltd., Zhangjiagang Huachang New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., and Suzhou Huachang Daote Chemical Technology R&D Co., Ltd. The pilot-scale production facility for isooctanoic acid with an annual capacity of 1,000 tons, built using this technology, has achieved a complete integrated production process, with the product purity reaching 99.94%. At the meeting, the experts carefully listened to the work reports, research reports, and application reports submitted by the units responsible for completing the project, as well as the results of the on-site assessment conducted by the evaluation team on the pilot-scale installation; they also thoroughly reviewed the relevant technical documents. Following on-site inquiries, defenses, and discussions at the meeting, the evaluation committee concluded that this achievement features strong technological innovation, safe and reliable manufacturing processes, as well as environmental friendliness, and is overall at an internationally advanced level. The committee unanimously agreed to approve it and recommended accelerating its industrialization and widespread application. It is reported that the isooctanoic acid project is an important part of Huachang Chemical’s efforts to expand the industrial chain involving propylene, n-butylaldehyde, octenal, isooctanoic acid, isooctanoate salts, and isooctanoate esters, thereby strengthening and completing this chain.
The transformation of scientific and technological achievements is an important pathway to accelerating the development of new forms of productive forces. However, there is a huge gap between scientific and technological achievements and the product market, which is vividly referred to as the “Darwinian Dead Sea”. Leveraging its strengths in research and development, Zhangjiagang Huachang New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. used its pilot production base as a stepping stone to overcome this \"dead end\". “The current experimental data meet the expectations! ” “These numbers are even better! ” …… Recently, in the control room of Huachang New Materials’ pilot plant, researchers were closely watching the large screen on which numbers kept changing, paying close attention to all the data from the pilot tests
According to researchers, \"pilot testing\" is a crucial step in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Only by continuously adjusting the technical processes and repeatedly verifying the stability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of the products can industrialization be achieved. Currently, they are conducting pilot tests on a high-performance material; once successful, mass production will be possible
“Our pilot plant is like an enlarged laboratory or a scaled-down production line. ”Zhang Kai, head of the Engineering and Technology Department at Zhangjiagang Huachang New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., said that when a product is developed in the laboratory, only 20% of the industrialization process has been completed; another 60% lies in the pilot production stage, during which technical aspects need to be taken into account alongside customer requirements. Finally, 20% is spent on refining the product based on those customer needs. It was with this awareness that Huachang New Materials began establishing the Jiangsu Provincial Engineering Research Center for Functional Chemical New Materials in 2017. On this basis, the company increased its investment in research and development, expanded its R&D facilities, trained more researchers, and acquired more R&D equipment. It set up various R&D platforms such as a polyester resin R&D laboratory, a performance testing laboratory, and a pilot production facility
In 2021, Huachang New Materials’ first pilot production facility was officially put into operation. “It is uncommon for companies to establish their own pilot plants for new materials, as usually only large enterprises ranked among the world’s top 500 or industry leaders in specific fields have the resources to do so. ”Zhang Kai told reporters that Huachang New Materials is capable of establishing its own pilot production facility because the company has been actively engaged in new material research and development for many years, boasting strong developmental momentum. Pilot plant: “One of the main purposes of pilot testing is to overcome the limitations of the original technology.” Sometimes, the synthetic routes for some new materials developed in the laboratory have to be completely rebuilt when moving on to the pilot-scale production stage. ”Zhang Kai continued, \"For example, the laboratory finds that material C can be produced using materials A and B, but the cost might be 1,000 yuan per kilogram – such a high cost makes it impossible to sell it. In that case, one has to keep working on improvements, trying to reduce the cost to 100 yuan per kilogram, or even 10 yuan per kilogram.\" ” In recent years, Huachang New Materials has relied on its full-industry-chain production lines, focusing on distinctive industrial clusters such as high-end environmental-friendly coatings and high-performance materials. It has carried out technological innovation research in the field of \"functional chemicals and new chemical materials\" in order to address technical challenges within the industry and fill existing technical gaps. Among them, the pilot production of 1,3-butanediol and isooctanoic acid was successful, becoming part of the company’s technical expertise. By utilizing the pilot production facility, Huachang New Materials has fully established an industrialization pathway that goes from experimentation to pilot production and then to large-scale manufacturing, enabling rapid development. It also provides continuous new momentum for fostering new forms of productive capacity and promoting high-quality industrial growth.